Laserfiche WebLink
KITTITAS COUNTY <br />DEPARTMENT OF PUBLIC WORKS <br />PUBLIC WORKS — BOARD OF COUNTY COMINUSSIONERS <br />STUDY SESSION STAFF REPORT <br />STUDY SESSION DATE: April 12, 2021 <br />TOPIC: Public Works Fees Update <br />ACTION REQUESTED: Direct Staff Schedule a Public Hearing <br />LEAD STAFF: <br />Mark R. Cook <br />RECOMMENDATION: <br />Direct staff prepare a public hearing regarding staff s proposed permit fee schedule for <br />2022. <br />BRIEFING SUMMARY: <br />Q Public Works (PW) has not updated permit fees since 2017 (Resolution 2017- <br />064). <br />P Staff has been working on a revised fee proposal for the past several months. <br />IP The proposed fee schedule reduces the amount of individual fees for land use <br />permits setting a base fee and then tracking hourly costs. <br />it The proposed schedule allows for more accurate cost recovery and provides better <br />equity for permittees. <br />BACKGROUND: <br />The Board of County Commissioners (BOCC) last updated PW fees in 2017. Using a <br />consultant fee model, the Board directed PW achieve full cost recovery for all permit <br />activity. Upon completion, the Board arbitrarily set many fees at 25 percent cost <br />recovery, directing monitoring and adjustment of fees as data directed. <br />The vast number of individual fees is driven by Community Development Services' land <br />use permitting process. PW conducted a comprehensive permit review in the last quarter <br />of 2020 and determined staff was poorly tracking time spent on the various permits. <br />Significant lack of time tracking per land use permit was noted by accounting staff. <br />Interviews with permitting staff confirms that tracking individual time invested issuing <br />land use permits is cumbersome and not being done consistently amongst PW permitting <br />staff. <br />DISCUSSION: <br />PW business practices have evolved since 2017 identifying the need for a handful of <br />additional permitting processes, notably the increasing need for private road inspections <br />and the increased amount of engineering plan review. The revised fee proposal sets <br />standard minimums for most land use permits (using the consultant model to develop a <br />Page 1 of 3 <br />Public Works "Work Session Staff Report", 2021 <br />