It just got cheaper to build in Manatee County

Manatee County has always offered one of the most inexpensive permit fees in the region, but it just got cheaper by 30 percent.

In the past six years, Manatee County has made other reductions in fees totaling a 52-percent reduction overall.

Senior Fiscal Services Manager Tammy Boggs said previous reductions occurred in 2012, 2013 and again in 2016 before the biggest reduction in fees yet were approved at Thursday’s county land-use meeting.

Manatee County Building Department Director John Barnott said there are many reasons the department has been able to reduce fees over the years but in this case, it’s from sheer volume as the economy continues to grow and consumer confidence soars.

“We are averaging about 2,600 permits a month, Barnott said. “A large percentage of those are from mechanical change-outs like air conditioners going out or roof replacement permits, which are essentially over-the-counter permits so we are able to get most permits out pretty quickly.”

Barnott was named director in 2008 coming from the private sector and he immediately went to work applying private sector business models to the county department.

In his first quarter on the job, the building department had a $2 million deficit and for the previous two decades, the county commission had to use general funds to offset the department’s budget. By the end of Barnott’s first fiscal year, the department was only $30,000 in debt.

He has built up a large reserve now where not only does the department pay for itself, but it makes money.

“I’ll lose about $1 million over the next fiscal year, “Barnott said. “But we have a very large reserve to cover that and at some point soon we’ll do a new study fee to see where we need to be that’s fair to everyone.”

Barnott’s continued surplus has drawn the attention of other departments who would like to use those funds.

“We’ve had some other proposals to spend that money,” said Commissioner Betsy Benac, who noted building permit fees can only be spent within the building department on specific needs like code enforcement and continued education.

Barnott said he takes criticism sometimes for the perception that his department, “approves everything. If we brought everything brought to us without review to the board we would recommend denying it 98 percent of the time. We work our butts off to help people get their projects into code, which is what we are supposed to do.”