Agenda - 05-14-1996 - IX-A - Laserfiche WebLink

Browse Search

t 2 MEMORANDUM TO: Orange County Board of Commissioners John Link, County Manager FROM: Rod Visser, Assistant County Manager Nick Waters, Director of Emergency Management DATE: May 9, 1996 RE: Revised Fire Inspection Program Fees Based on the Board' s guidance to develop a new fire inspection fee schedule that is more fair than the current schedule, while still recouping the operating costs of the fire inspection program, staff have prepared the attached proposal . One of staff ' s principal charges was to address the concern that under the existing fee schedule, inspections for some facilities with very small areas cost as much or more than inspections for facilities of much greater size and complexity. The existing fee schedule (page 6) includes the following elements : initial inspection fees ranging from $90-$180; reinspections within 30 days, when necessary, at no charge; and subsequent inspections at double the initial fee if facilities remain out of compliance upon the first reinspection, with no good faith effort shown to correct initial violations . The revised schedule would feature initial inspection fees that are lower for smaller facilities, which generally take less time to inspect than larger facilities . The revised schedule of initial fees is $10 higher for every increment of 2500 square feet in the facility to be inspected, with a cap of $200 . There would be a moderate cost for any required first reinspection, but any subsequent reinspections would bear a fee double the initial fee, as an incentive for early compliance with fire code requirements. The frequency of inspections would remain the same, based on the inspection intervals laid out for various categories of facilities in Chapter V of the State Building Code, which mandates the County' s fire inspection program. After preparing an initial draft revised fee schedule, staff invited comments from a group of business owners whose facilities are subject to mandated periodic inspections. Participants in the discussions included: Jack Davis, MOPACO; Lindsay Efland, Efland Hosiery; Jeff Wells, Lu-E-G' s; Gattis Ramsey, Ramsey' s Body Shop; and Wesley Woods, Dual Supply. The clear consensus of this group was that use of general County revenues is a more appropriate way of paying for the fire inspection program than fees charged to owners of inspected facilities . The group' s view is that all citizens use the facilities that are inspected at one time or another, and therefore the enhanced safety conditions are a benefit that accrues to the public in general .