Polk Septic Tank Fees Getting Pushback

Polk County commissioners, led by Commissioner George Lindsey, voted unanimously today to reapprove a resolution they passed unanimously in 2016—minus any local surcharges to cover the cost of performing some septic tank permitting work by the Polk County Health Department.

This issue has been building for a couple of months ever since local health officials began assessing the extra fees as new construction is cranking up again, along with the demand for inspections to allow the projects to proceed, and local builders complained.

The biggest increase involved the fee to review a new residential septic tank permits. That fee increased from the $100 the state fee schedule to $225 because of the $125 county surcharge. Most of the fee increases for the various services are more modest, in the $10 to $25 range, or non-existent.

Lindsey raised the issue in early June on behalf of his colleagues at the Polk County Builders Association, who complained the fee was enacted without any notice.

In fact, the fee schedule was quietly included as an attachment to the previous resolution without any indication fee increases would be involved, according to the backup for the agenda item.

Lindsey questioned why there is a local surcharge and why the full cost of the service isn’t included in the state portion of the fee.

Dr Joy Jackson, director of the Polk County Health Department, said the fees are set in Tallahassee, but she wasn’t sure who sets them or how they are determined.

She said she will bring figures explaining the rationale for the local fees when she meets with commissioners later this summer in preparation for a vote in September on local septic tank fees.

Lindsey asked Dr. Jackson what would happen if commissioners simply refused to levy the local surcharge.

She said builders would possibly have to wait longer to get their inspections because there would be fewer staff members available to provide the service if the funding to pay them were not available.

It seems one option would be to lobby someone in Tallahassee to increase the state fees, which would produce the needed amount of revenue but would force the builders to direct their complaints toward the Florida Legislature rather than the County Commission.

The real issue seems to be whether the fees are appropriate to allow the government to provide a service efficiently and whether not charging the fees would force the taxpayers to subsidize new development once again.

 

Posted in Group Conservation Issues.