Fiscal Yr Report

The Washington County Planning Department consists of three full-time employees:

administrative assistant, building inspector and planning administrator. The Department

is responsible for three separate, and distinct, functions. These are: building permits and

inspections; planning and zoning; and administration of the County’s E-911 program.

BUDGETS - EXPENSES

The Department operates under three budgets: Building Inspection (609), Planning

BUILDING INSPECTION

The Building Inspector is the only personnel cost in the building inspection budget.

The following chart details the building inspection budget for the past seven fiscal years:

The Planning Commission budget includes 100% of the Planning Administrator’s and

Administrative Assistant’s wages. That personnel cost comprises 87% of the budget with

postage, phone, mileage, printing & publishing, and office supplies encompassing the

The following chart details the Planning Commission budget for the past seven fiscal

E-911

The E-911 program and budget is shared with the County Sheriff’s Office, with the

Planning Department performing administrative functions and the Sheriff’s Office in

charge of E-911 operations. The Departments administrative responsibilities are: E-911

mapping, address assignment, resident marker creation and physical placement, sign

(resident marker & intersection signs) inventory, and Master Street Address Guide

The following line item categories in the E-911 budget are classified as administrative:

signs & posts ($3,500), maps & addressing($6,000), mileage allowance for the E-911

Coordinator (Planning Administrator) ($900), and phone ($100). These line item amounts

On the revenue side, the following chart displays the total revenue collected from building

BUILDING PERMITS

Building permit records are somewhat scarce prior to the early 1990’s, so for comparison

The following statistics also reflect that since September 2000 the County Planning

Department performs all building inspection services for the Village of Arlington, along

with being a second application site for construction activity within the Village and its

one-mile extraterritorial area. In February 2001, these same services became effective for

the Village of Washington and in April 2005 the City of Fort Calhoun contracted with the

For fiscal year 2006-07, there were 708 permits issued (excluding voided permits)

Accessory Building	54	Plumbing - Miscellaneous	70
Accessory Building Repair	1	Move-In House	0
Accessory Building Addition	4	Patio/Porch	4
Attached Garage	4	Remodel Church	0
Commercial	2	Residential Addition	27
Deck	40	Residential Remodel	34
Demolition	0	Roof	20
Detached Garage	13	Roof, Siding	5
Flood Plain Development Permit	3	Septic	61
Foundation	2	Single Family Residence	36
Grain Bin	11	Siding	8
Hog Confinement	2	Sign	2
Manufactured Home	1	Swimming Pool	7
Miscellaneous	4	Townhouse	0
Electrical - Miscellaneous	195	Void	15
Mechanical - Miscellaneous	98

For simplicity purposes, some permit “types” have been combined in the following pie

chart and graph (refer to the footnotes).

Footnotes:

1. Accessory buildings, accessory building additions, gazebos, grain bins

2. Attached and detached garages

3. Single-family residences, moved-in homes, duplexes & manufactured

homes

4. Decks, patios, porches, swimming pools

5. Miscellaneous accessory permits: electrical, mechanical, plumbing and

septic

6. Residential additions and remodels

7. Roofing, foundation, commercial, demolition, flood plain, hog

confinements, miscellaneous building and voided permits

The following chart details the “number of permits issued” since the 1993-94 fiscal

The chart below shows the number of new home permits from fiscal year 1993-94 through

2006-07. Included in this category are new stick-built homes (single & duplex), moved-in

Information gathered at the time a permit is applied-for is the valuation of the proposed

construction activity. Valuation is not obtained for miscellaneous permits (electrical,

mechanical, plumbing and septic). The chart below does not include the valuation of

flood plain development permits. Since January 1, 2001, valuation determination has

been obtained through a nationally recognized formula (prior to then the applicant

As some construction takes place prior to a building permit being applied-for, the

Department does have the authority to use fines to encourage the “timely” application of

building permit requests. Per the County’s Building Code, fines are assessed as double

In fiscal year 2006-07, the Department collected $ 789.00 in fines for 19 permits

Related to the number of permits issued is the number of inspections performed by the

Building Inspector. Built into the fee structure of a building permit is the cost of

inspections. The Department makes a concerted effort to see that all construction projects

receive the required inspections and are completed on a timely basis (within 2 years of the

* Status checks refer to the Building Inspector stopping at either a “permitted” or “un-

* A job site conference occurs when the Building Inspector will meet at a project site to

* Miscellaneous finals mean all finals other than house finals (accessory buildings,

* Miscellaneous inspection refers to such inspections as framing, electrical rough-in,

	JUL	AUG	SEP	OCT	NOV	DEC	JAN	FEB	MAR	APR	MAY	JUN	TOTALS
House Finals	5	7	4	7	6	5	6	6	4	2	8	3	63
Status Checks	7	14	8	8	11	0	11	2	7	13	13	33	127
Job Site Conf.	3	2	5	4	4	1	2	2	5	1	1	2	32
Misc. Finals	30	37	30	64	53	21	25	20	54	38	52	51	475
Misc. Insp	71	87	72	90	70	46	38	25	53	76	83	71	782
TOTALS	116	147	119	173	144	73	82	55	123	130	157	160	1,479

For fiscal year 2006-07 there were a total of 94 planning requests. Included in this

In some cases, when a property is split or subdivided, there is a Greenbelt recapture. This

allows the County to go back three years and collect, or “recapture”, the difference

between the “non-Greenbelted” tax rate and the “Greenbelted” tax rate. Greenbelt

recapture occurs with the subdivision, replatting and lot splitting of property. Whether or

not there is a “recapture” is determined by the County Assessor’s Office. Greenbelt

amounts are determined by the County Treasurer’s Office. The Treasurer does not sign

the associated plat until payment has been verified. In fiscal year 2006-07 Greenbelt

recapture occurred on 5 properties, with platted residential subdivisions accounting for

The following chart details County unincorporated area subdivisions with occupancy rates

SUB-	NUMBER	NUMBER	PERCENT	YEAR	LEGAL
DIVISION	OF LOTS	OF HOMES	OCCUPIED	PLATTED	DESCRIP

Allen Hills	63	35	56%	1996	18-17-12
Bur-Ridge	23	7	30%	1982	31-18-12
Circle K Acres	5	0	0%	2007	25-17-11
Clearwater Creek + Phase II	23	1	4%	2005	10-17-12
Cooper Woods	19	8	42%	2000	2-17-11
Cottonwood Creek	65	0	0%	2005	18,19-17-12
Crest Ridge	32	13	41%	2000	13-17-11
Eagle View	40	36	90%	1996	19-17-12
Elkhorn Oaks	3	1	33%	2002	28-18-9
Glen Oaks	50	0	0%	2006	8,9-17-12
Heidi Hollo	25	20	80%	1992	12-17-11
Heidi Hollo West	52	29	56%	1996	12-17-11
Highway 133 Hilltop	2	1	50%	2006	2-17-11
Lakeland Estates	519	302	58%	1970	13-17-11
Lakeview Estates #2	8	5	63%	1977	12-17-11
Longview Estates	9

2006/2007

Circle K Acres Sub	$4,440
Clearwater Creek Sub Phase II	$4,457
Glen Oaks Sub	$19,931
Rhoades Lot Split	$60
Wofford Lot Split	$433