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172
nd
C ali forn ia’s Olde st Ne w spaper
mtdemocrat.com
Monday, November 6, 2023
Fees for Planning and Building services going up
– E s t. 18 51
Volume 172 • Issue 127 | $1.00
Ancestral homage
Eric Jaramishian Staff writer The El Dorado County Planning and Building Department has increased service fees to boost its cost recovery. Planning and Building staff requested increases based on a cost recovery analysis done by NBS Government Finance Group Inc., which conducted the study to examine revenue shortfalls. NBS determined Planning and Building was recovering approximately 68% of annual costs of providing services and presented its findings to the Board of Supervisors in August. With the rise in fees, assistant director of Planning and Building Chris Perry said recovery revenue for services will grow to 98% with the approval of the department’s new fee schedule. Supervisors unanimously, to some extent reluctantly, approved the fee increases Oct. 24. “As difficult as it is to approve cost increases, I think we need to do it from a recovery standpoint,” said John Hidahl, District 1 supervisor. “Otherwise we have all the taxpayers subsidizing individual projects.” Most notably, planning services hourly rates will increase by $79 for a new, $219 flat fee. For the Tahoe area, Planning and Building has added a stormwater state permit recovery fee that will include a $190 hourly rate. Regarding vacation home rentals, an hourly fee is set to $190 and a $31 VHR technology surcharge has been determined necessary. The department will also convert charges on certain services from a flat fee to a time and materials basis. A building service fee will increase marginally from $126 to $144 an hour to help put the Building Division of the department at a 100% cost recovery rate, according to Perry. The building fee multiplier, in which the cost of building permits is determined, is also receiving an fee update. The Code Enforcement Division is implementing n See fees, page A3
The Maquilli Tonatiuh Aztec Dancers, above, perform outside the Center Street Gallery in Placerville after leading the Skull Art Walk Day of the Dead procession down Main Street Thursday evening, Nov. 2, as part of a ceremony to celebrate the dead. The event, which also included an art exhibition, was put together through the collaboration of Arts and Culture El Dorado, the Asociación Guadalupana, the Shingle Springs Band of Miwok Indians, the Placerville Public Library and the Rural Resistance Community Table. Placerville’s Bell Tower was given a Día de Los Muertos makeover, right, featuring ofrendas and two large, stylized sugar skulls made by Jaime VI, Lexi Boeger, Gavin Sellers-Norman, Daniel Sellers-Norman and Victor Falls in partnership with the Sugar Skull Art Walk team. Mountain Democrat photos by Odin Rasco n see more photos on A6
Spark to reality EDH Fire Training Center officially open Noel Stack Managing editor
PLACE ADDRESS LABEL HERE
W
ith appreciation to those
who sparked the idea to build a firefighters training center in El Dorado Hills, the EDH Fire Department officially “uncoupled the hose” on the new facility. More than 100 people gathered Oct. 28 for the grand opening celebration that included words from dignitaries, games for the kids and tours of the long-awaited $12.5 million campus next to Fire Station 87 in the El Dorado Hills Business Park. “We gather here to celebrate the grand opening of the El Dorado Hills Fire Training Center — a beacon of innovation, collaboration and dedication to the safety and well-being of our
community,” EDH Fire Chief Maurice Johnson said. “This state-of-the-art facility is not just a training center; it is a testament to our unwavering commitment to excellence in firefighting and emergency response.” More than 20 years in the making, the facility has twostory and three-story residential Class “A” live fire training structures totaling approximately 10,000 square feet and a 1,600-square-foot outdoor classroom with storage and bathrooms as well as a water reclamation area plus grading, paving and utilities groundwork for this and future phases. The residential
Mountain Democrat photo by Noel Stack
The El Dorado Hills Fire Department family lines up to uncouple the hose at the EDH Fire Training Center grand opening Oct. 28. structures emulate the architecture/layout of homes in El Dorado Hills with multiple levels and balconies and parts built into the
hillside. Rooms have deep closets, living spaces have high ceilings and each house comes with its own twists and turns as well as a few
dead ends. The facility’s street signs pay tribute to n See Training center,
page A3
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