Negotiations are still taking place, but the Town of Culver may be changing the way they charge fees for building permits.
Culver currently charges a $50 fee for any permit that requires an inspection. Marshall County, however, appears to be unhappy with the way that fee is structured. The Town pays Marshall County about $2,500 per year in the fees they collect for inspections.
Town Manager Jonathan Leist says negotiations are taking place to change it.
“The two options we really focused on so far was whether you add that on to the current Culver fee, take it out and we lose the revenue, or maybe split the difference somewhere in there,” says Leist.
Certain projects take multiple inspections, often costing more than the fee being charges. Talks are taking place between the Town of Culver and Marshall County to potentially make changes to better fit the resources expended for building inspections.
Besides adding a County fee, other options include hiring a part-time building inspector in Culver.
Building Commissioner Russ Mason says the changes will affect some more than others.
“The ones that will feel the impact probably is a local homeowners who’s going to hire his brother-in-law and may he needs to do some plumbing work and he pays for remodeling a $100 fee instead of $50,” says Mason.
Neighboring towns in Marshall County, such as Argos and LaPaz don’t have permit fees for inspections. That means they simply allow Marshall County to handle any inspections.
Final decisions will be left up to the Town Council once negotiations between the administration and Marshall County have been finalized.
