JoCo eyes fee hikes, additions
From our weekly issue dated December 24, 2008
Amid hope-filled expressions of economic recovery during the next year or so, Josephine County Board of Commissioners last week unveiled proposed fee increases and new fees requested by several county departments.
The increases were discussed during a public hearing held during the commissioners’ weekly business session on Wednesday, Dec. 17 in Anne G. Basker Auditorium in Grants Pass. The meeting was advertised and announced in a Grants Pass newspaper.
Detailed in a packet provided at the meeting, the proposed fees were accompanied by figures supporting the cost of providing each service. However, the fees in most instances are not sufficient to cover the estimated costs of providing each service.
The various fees were requested from the county departments of public health, public works, forestry, parks and the clerk’s office. They include increases in the cost of firewood permits; higher fees for use of picnic shelters in county parks; and increased prices for food service permits for certain mobile vendors and Growers Market booths.
New fees include a $72 fee to inspect benevolent feeding sites; passport and wedding photography services offered by the county clerk’s office, and a hefty suite of services proffered by the county public works department. If adopted by the board as expected during its Wednesday, Dec. 24 business session, the fees would go into effect Feb. 2, 2009.
Following presentations by department heads providing the rationale behind the requests, reaction from citizens was mixed, but predominately resistant to increases in compulsory fees. Commissioner Jim Raffenburg agreed, stating that while there might be some justification for the charges for new services, “I think it’s bad timing to do it now,” he said as the audience applauded its approval. “It’s just plain wrong,” said Raffenburg.
Advertisement:
Taking up the topic again during its Friday, Dec. 19 administration meeting, the board (minus Raffenburg, who was absent) elected to separate the increases into three orders: parks, clerks, and forestry; public works; and public health. Also, the board adjusted some fees and elected to phase-in during four years the fees requested by public works for land-use application review work.
County commission Vice Chairman Dwight Ellis noted that “With the testimony that we heard and the economic situation … hopefully in the next couple of years, this economy is going to turn and as we increase into that economy, I think it will be more palatable for folks.”
He continued, “But right now the whole thing going down their throat is not palatable; there is a political issue we need to look at as well.”
Chairman Dave Toler agreed, and in response to criticism that the process of setting fees appeared somewhat arbitrary, Toler stated that calculating the actual cost is a scientific process, but “for political -- for economic reasons, we are looking at establishing them at less than the cost of the service.”
Advertisement:
