Memo Fire Inspection Fees
MEMORANDUM
CITY OF HOPKINS
Date: March 5, 1992
To: Mayor and city council
From: George Magdal, Fire Marshal
Subject: Fire Inspection Fees
PURPOSE OF DISCUSSION
The purpose of this memo is review the city's fire inspection program
and discuss the concept of establishing a fee schedule for fire
inspections. Through analysis, the City has recognized fire
inspections as one area where a service is provided without fees. It
is possible for the City to recover a portion or all of the costs
incurred by charging a fee for this service.
The city council is being requested to provide direction on whether
staff should continue to develop a fee schedule pertaining to fire
inspections. No other formal action is being requested.
BACKGROUND
There was some concern for the safety of Hopkins buildings and
~ccupants by the City Council when the certificate of occupancy
program was eliminated in 1990. At that time the council asked that
the fire inspection program pick up its efforts to maintain a
reasonable degree of safety in these buildings. This effort is
continuing.
The goal of the city's fire inspection program is to maintain or
improve the safety of commercial, industrial and apartment buildings
while maintaining the communities tax base.
The benefits of these fire inspections are considerable. By reducing
the frequency and consequence of potential fires, the city protects:
o The public visiting the businesses
0 The business owner and his employees
0 The firefighters who would be responding to the incident
0 The city's tax base.
Hopkins currently spends approximately 16 hours a week doing fire
inspections. This costs the City approximately $17,000 per year. At
the current level of staffing we are capable of inspecting every
commercial building in -Hopkins about once every 5 years. Some
businesses that contain hazardous chemicals for instance require more
frequent visits. Other businesses are seen less frequently because of
the minimum hazard.
Municipalities are not required to do fire inspections. Among our
neighbors, Edina and st. Louis Park have chosen not to do inspections
whereas Minnetonka and Eden prairie each have a maintenance fire
inspection program.
FEE SCHEDULE
The City can legally charge for fire inspections. The following
program is being proposed in order to provide for a partially or
totally self sufficient fire inspection program:
0 Inspections would be conducted in all commercial businesses,
industrial buildings and apartment complexes. occupancies that
have a history of problems or extreme hazards would be inspected
more often than others. Smaller business can be inspected in less
than one hour per visit. A larger company or one with hazards may
take many hours of inspection and research time.
0 The City would charge an hourly rate for the inspectors time.
0 There would be a minimum charge of one hour per visit.
0 A fire inspection fee of $30 per hour would be charged. This is
the amount currently used by the city for repeat fire
inspections.
As an incentive to correct code violations quickly it is proposed
that the city adjust the $30 rate based on the circumstances of the
situation. An example of this is as follows:
0 If there are no violations found or corrections are made prior to
the second visit, the business would pay 1/2 the normal hourly
rate.
o A violator complying by the third visit would pay the normal
hourly rate.
0 A violator not complying after the third visit would pay a fee of
1 1/2 times the normal hourly rate.
The following are some scenarios using the proposed fee schedule.
0 A small business has no violations or complies while the fire
inspector is on site, 1 hr. @ $15/hr.=$15
o A small business complies at the time of the second visit, 2 hrs.
@ $15.00/hr.=$30
0 A small business complies after 3 visits, 3 hrs. at $30/hr.=$90
0 A small business complies after 4 visits, 4 hrs. @ $45/hr. = $180
DISADVANTAGES OF THIS PROPOSAL
One disadvantage of this program is that it poses an additional cost
fora business operating in Hopkins.
This program also requires some type of billing procedure be
developed. This is a disadvantage since it will require staff time to
process the bills.
Another disadvantage is that it is not an exact budget. The sliding
scale makes it difficult to determine the revenue that would be
generated. It's also likely that some people will not pay their bill.
This could be rectified by structuring the program to allow the city
to certify delinquent bills as a special assessment against the
property.
The worst case scenario would be that all the businesses in Hopkins
complied with violations on the first or second visit allowing us to
bill only 50% of the fee. As odd as this sounds, that is actually the
goal of the program.
WHAT ARE OTHER CITIES DOING?
I have not found another city that is charging directly for fire
inspections. Many cities work on a permit system where they charge a
fee for selected businesses that are required to have permits.
There has been, however, a fair amount of interest from other cities
regarding this issue. The League of Minnesota cities recently did a
telephone survey regarding fire inspection fees. A copy of those
survey results are attached.
The city of ' st. Paul has a certificate of Occupancy program. Fees
charged cover approximately 40% of their cost of doing the fire
inspections. Their fee, based on the building size, charges the owner
of the building. We are proposing charging the business itself.
Usually it's the business that violates the fire code. There are some
cases, however, .where the owner also would receive orders to correct
violations and would pay the fee.
The City of Blaine is looking at the possibility of charging a fee
for fire inspections. They are proposing $50 for the first three
visits and $50 more for each additional visit. They do not take into
account the size of the business.
Roseville is looking at a 15% surcharge on building permits to partly
fund their Fire Inspections Program, including an additional fire
inspector. Their Chamber of Commerce felt that a $50 charge per
business was unfair since the inspection time varied per business. I
don't see how charging new construction is fair since they are not
the ones receiving the greatest benefit from the fire inspections.
In the state of New Jersey, every business is required to have a fire
inspection on an annual basis. The fees charged'to the businesses for
these inspections go to the state. The state then provides the fire
inspection personnel. cities may receive a portion of the inspection
fee if they agree to provide the inspection service.
RECOMMENDATIONS
It is recommended the city council direct staff to continue to
develop the fire inspection fee program as proposed and return at a
later date with an ordnance allowing for the implementation of this
program.
It is further suggested that staff solicit input from the Business
Council and other business groups on the implementation of such a
program.
Options availabl~ to the city Council include:
1. Discontinue efforts pertaining to establishing a fee schedule
relating to fire inspections.
2. Discontinue the maintenance fire inspection program.
3. continue work on implementing a fee schedule relating to fire
inspections.
~ 183 University Ave, East
I
: St. Paul, MN 55101.2526
League of Minnesota Cities (612) 227.5600 (FAX: 221.0986)
January 27, 1992
George Magdal
lOlO First street South
Hopkins, MN 55343
Dear Mr. Magdal:
I am writing in response to your recent inquiry. You had asked for a
copy of the results of my telephone survey regarding fees for fire
inspections. The results are as follows:
City (type) Inspection or Permit cost
Shoreview (scB) No direct fee
Maple Grove (seA) Hood Inspections--$35
Sprinkler Systems & UST's
(requires permit which includes inspections. The permit fee is
l.5% of the cost of the contract up to $10,000. For contracts
that are over $10,000, the fee is calculated at 1% for amounts
beyond the $10,000 amount.)
Lewiston (scA) No direct charge
Hopkins (hc) $30 for Re-inspections
Hastings (hc) No direct charge
Excelsior (he) No direct charge
Fridley (he) UFC permit $20 (incl. insp~)
White Bear Lake (he) No direct charge
Princeton (seA) No direct charge
Plymouth (scB) No direct charge
st. Cloud (he) No direct charge
Ramsey (he) No direct charge
Long Lake (seA) No direct charge
Coon Rapids (he) No direct charge
Oakdale (seA) No direct charge
I also contacted the state Fire Marshal. Their office does not charge
for fire inspections. As a rule, these survey results would seem to
suggest that cities do not charge for fire inspections. However, when
inspections are part of a permit granting process, there does seem to
be a fee for the permit, and thus an indirect charge. The vast
majority of these were for sprinkler permits or building permits to
install systems that needed approval by the fire marshal.
I hope that this information will be useful to you. Thanks again for
your assistance and participation. Please contact me if I can be of
assistance to you in the future.
sincerely,
~l~'A, "
Theresia per~
Research Assistant