DOOR COUNTY (NBC 26) — The Door County board of supervisors voted Tuesday morning on a resolution to increase the fees for private wastewater treatment systems.
- The Door County Board of Supervisors met Tuesday morning.
- Door County Administrator Ken Pabich describes which residents the fee increase will impact.
- Door County Land Use Director Mariah Goode says this is the first fee increase in nearly four years.
(The following is a transcription of the full broadcast story)
The Door County Board of Supervisors has approved a 25% fee increase for private on-site wastewater treatment systems.
The resolution passed with a vote of 16 yes to 3 no Tuesday morning.
Door County Administrator Ken Pabich says that the fees would affect new building projects or if your wastewater treatment breaks.
"What this is for, is they're for fees for let's say like a new system or something that's going in," Pabich said. "So when someone's building a house or let's say their system fails then it's replaced, then there's an impact."
Among a number of permit fees, holding tanks for systems with wastewater loadings greater than 3,000 gallons a day would increase from $1,000 to $1,250. Tanks with less than 3,000 gallons carry a fee increase of $500 to $625.
During the meeting some members of the board said they don't feel it is the county's place to increase those fees.
"How can we justify the 25% increase in some of these fees in fact some of them are more?"
Door County Land Use Director Mariah Goode said the wastewater fee has not been changed since 2021.
"The last time we raised the fees was in January of 2021," Goode said. "So what we did this time it was basically do a 25% increase across the board for the private on-site wastewater treatment system fees just given inflation and cost within the department."
With the resolution now passed, Pabich said the board wants to make sure the cost remains up to date.
"I think in this case we've been a little bit behind in terms of trying to make sure those fees were current," Pabich said. "So I feel that the committee when they went through and did all the vetting and they did all the research I think we're at a pretty solid spot."
The new private on-site wastewater treatment system fees will go into effect in January 2025.
