County raising fees charged to developers

Luzerne County builders and developers will pay higher fee and permit costs next year, but the increases will be smaller than year-ago hikes.

“The (county) administration would like me to change my fees every year,” said Adrian Merolli, executive director of the Luzerne County Planning Commission. He projected increases at below 10 percent, with more uniformity than last year, when some charges rose by half.

“We were trying to use 10 percent as a guideline,” Merolli said, but some prices didn’t change at all because officials felt they already were high enough.

Others will leap at a similar rate to last year; the combined cost of administrative and technical reviews for a four-lot subdivision will hit $500 on Jan. 1, up from the present $450. In 2008 it was $410. But a zoning hearing board application for a single-family residence will cost only 5 percent more, $210. Last year the charge rose by one-third, to $200 from $150.

Developer John Halbing of Summit Pointe Builders in Dallas Township doesn’t believe the higher fees will discourage building activity.

“I think the county fees … have very minimal impact,” Halbing said. And they are still quite reasonable compared to what he hears from developers in other parts of the state and nation.

The recession has affected fee income, Merolli said, but one large project has so far made up the difference.

“The overall economy has affected the subdivision and land development activity,” he said. Income from that category through Sept. 30 was at 59 percent of his full-year estimate, when it should have been 75 percent.

But the county is exceeding its zoning fees expectations, mainly because of a large permit that UGI Utilities took out on construction at its Hunlock Creek gas storage facility. The fees were “in the $20,000 range,” Merolli said.

But without the UGI windfall the total would be right on target at about 75 percent of the 2009 projection.

Even with the scheduled increases, Merolli said he’s not expecting a surge in revenue next year.

“I tend to be a little conservative on revenue numbers,” he said, and is projecting only a small increase to $124,000. The expense picture is brighter.

“My numbers were down 25 percent from this year” because three large planning projects “are getting late in their cycle. As those projects end you’re not spending that money again,” he said.

“We’ve got houses under construction; we’re selling some lots,” he said, but average selling prices are considerably lower than they were three years ago and that lowers some fees. Customers are asking for smaller houses, many in the 2,500-square-foot range compared to 3,500 square feet.