Lane County Commissioners unanimously voted to raise building fees by 21% over three years Tuesday.
The fees will increase the costs of different types of building permits, as well as the cost of electrical, plumbing, and other types of construction fees.
The county has an overall budget gap it’s working to close; the land management division specifically has a $1.2 million shortfall.
According to county documents, the department would need to make serious cutbacks such as closing the Florence office and reducing enforcement if they don’t bring in more revenue. Permit processing time would also likely increase.
Several commissioners, as well as builders, have said they were concerned raising fees could make housing more expensive
During the meeting Tuesday, the commissioners asked county staff to continue to look for ways to improve, and be more efficient, in the meantime, and will review whether the increases are still necessary in a year.
Commissioner David Loveall said he’d like to make sure the county was making progress on customer service issues and other challenges if it was going to start charging more.
“For me to be comfortable,” Loveall said, “[I want to say] we’ve done everything we can for the constituents and then we had to raise fees. I think I could justify in my heart if we had the prior matters settled.”
Commissioner Heather Buch said the impact to housing costs was also a concern, but also said the county needs to stay focused on stabilizing its land management division.
“Truly, at any time we can come back and change those,” she said. “But, for now, making sure our budget is shored up for the year is of high importance."
There are exemptions to the increases for affordable housing. The new fees will take effect in July.
