Macon to consider waiving environmental health fees
In the coming months, the Macon County Commission will consider waiving environmental health fees, and possibly building inspection fees, after Commissioner Paul Higdon broached the topic at an October meeting. Macon County Public Health Director Kathy McGaha said the move could have unintended consequences.
“I would make the suggestion that we waive environmental health fees,” said Higdon. “We have an opportunity here to tip our hat to people who are willing to invest in Macon County, say, ‘hey, we’re going to help you out a little bit.’”
Higdon has been on the board for 12 years and is nearing the end of his last term. He will be replaced by Barry Breeden after next week’s election. Breeden beat Higdon in the Primary Election earlier this year and with no Democratic opponent, Breeden is running unopposed in the General Election.
“Before I leave the board, I want to have an opportunity to thank those people that invest in Macon County,” said Higdon. “Our biggest economy here is construction, whether we like it or not, and tourism.”
According to McGaha, the health department brings in about $250,000 to $300,000 a year in environmental health fees. Higdon posits that losing that revenue stream wouldn’t be a major impact on the county’s budget, which for fiscal year 2024-2025 was about $63.7 million.
“The value of a new home or a new business in Macon County has a ripple effect,” said Higdon. “The labor market to build that house, building inspections, insurance companies, and then when it’s completed, the boost to our permanent tax base is phenomenal.”
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Higdon presented the idea to the commission during its Oct. 8 meeting and proposed that the commission take it up for consideration at its November meeting. He said that while he had had a meeting with McGaha, he had not discussed the idea with the board of health.
Higdon’s primary drivers for the proposal seem to be economic development and housing availability.
“We hear about the shortage of housing, housing costs, construction costs on the presidential debates, the state issues, but locally we have an opportunity to do something here,” Higdon said. “The federal [government], the state’s not doing anything, everybody complains about construction costs, housing shortages, nobody’s doing anything about it.”
Higdon proposed that anyone building a house or commercial property in the county should have environmental health fees waived, while someone buying a piece of property that is already developed should still have to pay the fees. In order to have fees waived, someone would have to have a valid contract to build a house, mobile home, single wide, industrial or commercial building.
“We’ll have to work the details out on some of this,” Higdon said.
He would also like to see well fees waived, currently set at $375.
“If you got a local person out here and their well goes kaput … you shouldn’t have to pay [that] to have a well drilled on your property,” said Higdon. “You still got to pay the $100 fee required for water testing required by the state, but $100 is a whole lot better than $375.”
Higdon also proposed waiving building inspection fees, which bring in around $700,000-$750,000 in revenues a year.
McGaha said that some of Higdon’s proposals could cause more work for her department, which is currently short-staffed.
“Some of the ideas that have been presented might add workload to an already short-staffed section,” McGaha told the commission. “We are going to be living this after you’re gone off the board.”
McGaha added that sometimes there are unintended consequences to even the greatest intentions.
But Higdon said that he hopes the change does increase the workload.
“I hope there are more businesses and construction going on in Macon County,” Higdon said.
McGaha told the commission that the health department is interested in doing whatever it can to boost Macon County’s economy.
“The economy is directly related to your community’s health. As your economy improves in a community, so does your health. We know that there’s that connection,” McGaha said. “So, considering this is not a bad thing under public health because we want everyone’s health to be better.”
No decisions were made regarding the environmental health fees during the October meeting; the commission will take up the issue during its November meeting.
