ARTICLE
In a January work session, City Council considered a proposal to raise its building permit fees by 30 percent. The proposal outlines two options that both result in a total permit fee of $3,650 for the same home size and valuation. One option would increase both the plan review and building inspection fees by 30 percent; the second would increase these by 67 and 8.5 percent, respectively. Both options are projected to raise a similar amount of revenue. Because state law requires a 12 percent surcharge on the inspection portion of building permit fees, raising the plan review fee by a higher percentage would allow the City of Wilsonville to retain more dollars locally. HBA is currently working with the building department on stakeholder outreach, opening a new door to engage with the City of Wilsonville on the real costs to bring new housing to market. While separate from system development charges (SDCs), the proposed building permit fee increase is a renewed opportunity for Wilsonville and HBA to discuss SDC reform. HBA provided testimony last spring on SDC vesting, deferred collection and credit transfers, all of which are geared towards saving builders money. To learn more about HBA’s work in Wilsonville, contact Roseann Johnson at roseannj@hbapdx.org. Previous Article