September BOH Packet - Laserfiche WebLink

Home Browse Search

Public Health ` Department To Protect and Promote the Health and the Environment of the People of Kittitas County ■ Projections of potential impacts to service demand and delivery, including economic uncertainties and state and local code changes New to 2026 EH fee calculations, staff have included a review of five-year actuals and averages of time data. As with the review of permit/inspection volume over five years, incorporating this data aids in identifying outliers due to staffing changes and one-time situations that may skew actuals within one year. Staff anticipate that this additional perspective will help to keep fees more stable and reflect expected incremental increases, rather than Large jumps. However, as this is the first time that this data has been applied, most fees have an updated amount in 2026, both increase and decrease, outside of specific changes or circumstances outlined below. Because of this process change, staff recommend updating allfees no matter how smallthe percentage change. As proposed, 37 fees decrease, 33 fees increase, and all other fees (27) remain unchanged from 2025. The overall average change per fee is a $120 reduction or 13%. For detailed fee breakdown and comparison to current 2025 fees, please see Appendix B. Fees for vital records services are determined by Washington State and are unchanged from 2025. KCPHD estimates approximately $65,000 in revenue from processing fees for birth and death records. The proposed 2026 fees are 68% of the Environmental Public Health budget, and when combined with vital records and passport fee revenue, are 10% of the overall department budget. Several changes are proposed for 2025: Zero Volume Estimate Update Many of the Solid Waste fees are infrequently or yet to be used, but are in place for future potential solid waste remediation, sites and facilities. Due to low or no hours associated with the activities, KCPHD bases the fees on estimates of time needed. Periodically those estimates are updated based on other similar fees. For the 2026 fees, staff averaged similar fee activities and updated fees for landfills, solid waste digesters, biosolids utilization, demolition, wood waste, closed landfills, surface impoundment, tire storage, and petroleum contaminated soil based on that average. These fees are now listed at the average cost of $1,2220 until KCPHD has actuals for time and volume to calculate the more exact cost of service. Eliminating On -Site Septic (OSS) Renewal Fee OSS renewal fee will be removed due to the extension of on -site septic permits to five years to align with state code. At the end of that five-year period, state law already requires a new site evaluation, so a renewal is no longer necessary. This change benefits both contractors who have additional time to work under a valid permit, and property owners who avoid paying for a renewal that would be redundant. There is no cost difference between a renewal and a new permit after five years. Comprehensive School Inspections Previously schools were subject to multiple fees for different inspections, which were completed at different times throughout the year. The new Comprehensive School Inspection fee now includes the full school inspection, playground inspection, and food inspections. It is structured this way to increase efficiency of inspection time; inspectors are already on -site conducting the school and playground inspections and can now complete the food inspection at the same time. In some cases, it may be necessary to return later for a second food inspection, but the fee has been calculated with the appropriate hours to ensure that time is accounted for Kittitas County Public Health Department— 2026 Preliminary Budget Narrative Page 14 of 25