The cost of securing a permit for construction in Hancock has been brought in line with prevailing standards, with a new method of calculating the expense taking effect next month.
Town Building Inspector Bob Garside proposed that the International Code Council, the governing body for building codes in the US, “uses current building valuation data in conjunction with a permit fee formula that more accurately reflects a fee structure that aligns with today’s costs,” as opposed to how the town currently assigns permit fees.
At a public hearing during Monday’s Select Board meeting, Town Administrator Jonathan Coyne explained the rationale for addressing the matter.
“The idea is to offset our building inspection costs with a method of fee-setting that is used across the U.S.,” said Coyne.
Board Chair Jeff Brown added that “Permit fees cover only 26% of the cost of inspection by the town. The balance is borne by all the taxpayers.”
Garside noted that Hancock’s permit fees have not changed since 2023, but that the cost of staffing the Building Department has gone up considerably, as has the cost of construction. The ICC uses a valuation data table that sets square-foot construction costs and revisits the data every six months. The new formula for permit fees recommended by the ICC would involve calculating a multiplier by dividing the Building Department’s budget by the value of all annual construction in town. The resulting number would then be multiplied by the square-foot construction cost and the gross area of the building to determine the actual permit fee.
To illustrate the adjustment, Garside indicated that with the department’s budget of $27,375 last year, based on the previous year’s construction, the new permit formula would result in fees that would cover 83% of the department’s costs for inspections instead of 26%.
The board voted unanimously to adopt the ICC formula for calculating permit fees, and it will become effective July 1.
Residents voiced concern over speeding drivers in town, and asked Police Chief Tom Horne about more electronic speed limit signs.
Horne said that the particular stretch of road in question where speeding was cited on Route 123 is in a shaded area where a solar-powered device would not work, and the cost of other models couldn’t currently be covered by the budget. He suggested that a warrant article for next year that would address acquiring several electronic signs might be a good approach.