I was not surprised to see another City fee increase passed on to the builders. This time it is for one of the cheapest fees they have, the demolition permit. I’m not sure of the rationale or reasoning why they need to increase the price of the demo fee. It takes virtually no staff time to process as the system allows you to upload all the files and have them screened by someone at City hall who then issues you the permit. It is a lot of work for the builder to chase down all the various suppliers and get the water, gas and electricity disconnected, but no work for the staff. This increase is not at all linked to inflation. If it was a 5$ increase it would not be noticeable. Instead they increase the fee by 99%, less I guess inflation of 2% so we are still at a 97% increase. Each time an eyesore of a house is demolished maybe the city should give the builder a break on the property taxes so the builder would have a little more cash to rebuild with….
Looks like they doubled the fee. The City makes good money from demolition permits, I think they should pay me to tear down old houses as an incentive to tear down more.