A Montgomery County Council committee approved Thursday a resolution to increase some permit fees in the county, but not before council member Nancy Floreen shared her concern that the department’s enterprise structure may be impacting business.
Floreen specifically mentioned sign permit fees, which a Silver Spring sign-making business owner said earlier this month were much higher than neighboring jurisdictions.
After the business owner testified during a hearing on proposed fee increases, the Department of Permitting Services agreed to decrease its proposed sign permit fee from $490 to $300. The fee is paid by business owners who install a sign on a building.
“I’m glad you could do that,” Floreen told department officials. “But is this a squeaky wheel solution to setting fees? I think our fees are ridiculously high.”
She questioned whether the department’s structure as a self-supporting entity designed to pay its salaries and operating costs through fee revenues resulted in fees that are out of line when compared to jurisdictions that support their permitting departments through tax revenue.
“I think we have to undo what we did in terms of making you self-supporting,” Floreen said.
She pointed out that a home occupation permit—which is required for a home business that has visitors coming in and out—would be increased from $185 to $420 if the resolution was approved.
“I don’t think it’s right for you to raise permits to this degree,” Floreen said. “What you do is discourage people from compliance. This is an example of not the right way to manage government.”
Proposed changes to permits in the resolution. Via County Council agenda packet
However, council President George Leventhal disagreed with Floreen. He said the burden should be on the business to pay the cost of what it takes for the department to ensure the business is compliant with county regulations. Leventhal and the other council member on the committee, Hans Riemer, voted to approve the resolution.
Diane Schwartz-Jones, director of the Department of Permitting Services, said the department sets its fees based on the amount of time it spends to review permit applications. She noted that fees include the department’s overhead costs, but also that fee costs have come down for many of its permit applicants recently.
An examination of other jurisdictions’ fees conducted for the committee by legislative analyst Jeffrey Zyontz provided little information about whether the county’s fees were out of line with other jurisdictions. Zyontz could not come to a clear conclusion after attempting to determine the cost of fees for various permits in Prince George’s County and Fairfax County.
“Based on this small sample, the one identifiable fact is that local jurisdictions will never be accused of price fixing,” Zyontz wrote. “Fees vary widely for similar permits.”
Zyontz said in an email his investigation into other jurisdictions' permit costs was limited by the amount of time he had to work on it.
The committee’s resolution is expected to come before the full council either next week or the week after, according to Zyontz.
Examination of other permit costs prepared for the council committee meeting by a legislative analyst for the county.
