Larimer commissioners approve $12,000 partial refund on Livermore fire station fee appeal

The Larimer County Board of County Commissioners voted 2-0 Monday to grant a $12,000 partial refund in the Livermore Fire Protection District’s appeal over permit fees tied to Building Permit 25-COM-0037 for Station Number 4 at 6382 Red Mountain Road in Livermore, rather than approve the full $28,724.85 request. Commissioners said the refunded amount would be backfilled later so the engineering budget would not absorb the loss.

County staff had recommended denial, arguing that building permit fees are tied to the actual cost of review and inspection work and that ad hoc waivers could create legal and operational problems. Mike Williams told commissioners that building permit fees "are not taxes" and said there is no clear legal provision allowing the county to charge lower or zero fees to some applicants while forcing others to make up the difference.

Williams also said the Building Division is fully funded by permit and licensure fees and warned that broad waivers without a backfill plan could affect staffing and inspection timelines. He said some of the disputed charges are pass-through fees the county is required to transmit to other entities, including transportation and fire capital expansion fees, as well as voter-approved taxes, and that the county would still owe those amounts even if it did not collect them from the applicant.

Chair Pro Tem John Kefalas proposed what he called a middle ground. He said he believed the district had shown financial hardship because of mortgage payments, water-system needs and equipment costs, while also noting that the station would help the district better serve the area and support wildfire response and emergency coverage along U.S. 287 north of the Red Mountain turnoff. Kefalas said he would support reducing the fee by roughly the amount of the transportation capital expansion fee, which he described as almost $13,000, provided commissioners later identify money to make engineering whole.

Chair Jody Shadduck-McNally said she would not support fully waiving the fees and raised concerns about the county’s own budget constraints after several years of cuts. She said the fire district had been advised multiple times about the fee-reduction and waiver process and had been updated on the estimated costs. Shadduck-McNally also said it sounded to her as though the transportation capital expansion fee had been estimated at the lowest possible rate staff could use.

After discussion, Kefalas said commissioners, Commissioner Kristin Stephens and the county manager would later work on where to find the $12,000 needed to make engineering whole. Shadduck-McNally then announced the motion had passed 2-0.