People doing business with Washington County have begun paying more in fees for services and licenses, contributing another $105,000 to this year's budget.
Most of the increases that took effect in Jan. 20 are minor, such as $1 for some food licenses, and a new $1 fee for daily firearm storage at the Sheriff's Office. Overall, fee revenue accounts for a small portion of the county's $154.2 million operating budget this year.
"We don't make money but we want to recover the costs so there's no reason to raise property taxes," said Kevin Corbid, the county's budget director.
Fee increases generally fall into three broad categories: assessments at 1 percent, household hazardous waste at 2 percent, and food, beverage and lodging licensing at 1 percent.
The county has dozens of pages of fee schedules that cover everything from copy costs to electronic home monitoring to septic inspections.
Commissioners raised concerns recently about the $1 increase in septic permit fees. They say the increase, although minor, comes at a time when the county is trying to encourage residents to correct long-standing problems with thousands of failing septics and a worse environmental hazard — cesspools.
"It's almost a discouragement to people," Commissioner Fran Miron, a farmer, said of the fee increase.
Commissioners asked county staff to review the increase in the next budget, Corbid said.
