PORT ANGELES — A proposed electrical permit fee increase was given the thumbs down from the City Council earlier this week.
The Port Angeles City Council on Tuesday, noting the slow economy, told staff to find a way to keep the fee level next year.
“My fear is negative repercussions,” said council member Brooke Nelson. “That is, people will not want to build in the city.”
The electrical permit fee was proposed to increase by 25 percent, or between $30 and $41.40, depending on the size of the connection.
Larry Dunbar, deputy power systems director, told the council that the electrical permit fee is not high enough to cover the work done by the city’s inspector, that the proposed increase was intended to resolve that problem.
The fee has been raised each year since 2008, as approved by the council then, and this year was supposed to be the last increase needed to recover the costs of electrical inspections.
“It may have made sense in 2008,” said council member Brad Collins. “I don’t think it makes sense in 2011.”
Dunbar said the cost of inspections are subsidized by utility rate payers.
The city is also proposing to increase utility fees by $4.65 per month next year.
The fee increases would apply to the electrical base charge, which hasn’t changed since 1993, and a wastewater fee that pays for the city’s approximately $40 million project to reduce its sewage overflows from up to 100 per year to no more than four.
The electrical base charge would be $13 per month (a $2 increase), and the combined sewer overflow, or CSO, wastewater fee $14.95 per month (a $2.65 increase).
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Reporter Tom Callis can be reached at 360-417-3532 or at tom.callis@peninsuladailynews.com.
