Council Approves Fire Inspection Fee Hike

For the first time in nearly two decades, fire inspection fees in the township will be going up.

Council unanimously approved on final reading Monday night an ordinance that will increase the fees charged by the township's six fire districts for annual non-life hazard inspections. The fees had remained unchanged since 1993.

Conservative activists later criticized the fee hike as "political sleight of hand."

The increases are significantly higher for larger buildings, with the fees for buildings of more than 100,000 square feet more than doubled by the ordinance.

The ordinance relates only to buildings not listed as "life hazard use" by the state Bureau of Fire Safety.

Non-life hazard uses include office buildings and warehouses. Restaurants and other facilities where fires are more likely to occur are classified as life hazard uses.

Erial Fire Commissioners George Brown and Jim Kibelstis were joined by Erial Fire Capt. Mike Breeze in explaining the reason for the proposed fee hike.

"We took a good look at (the county's fees), and then we checked the surrounding communities around us, and they were pretty much in line with the county," Breeze told Council. "So, that's pretty much where we went, and those are the fees we presented to you."

The fee for a building 100,000 to 200,000 square feet in size jumps from $200 to $460 under the ordinance. A building between 200,000 and 300,000 square feet would see its fee jump from $225 to $690.

The annual inspection fees for buildings between 3,000 and 9,000 square feet will go from $50 to $86, for buildings 9,000 to 15,000 square feet from $100 to $144, and for buildings 50,000 to 100,000 square feet from $175 to $260.

Prior to the ordinance's adoption, buildings less than 3,000 square feet in size carried a $27.50 fee for the annual inspection. The ordinance results in that category being split in two, with buildings less than 1,000 square feet now carrying a $35 inspection fee and buildings 1,000 to 3,000 square feet a $58 fee.

Also, the old 15,000 to 25,000 square feet ($225) and 25,000 to 50,000 square feet ($150) categories have been merged, and will now carry a $200 fee.

While no one opposed the ordinance during a public hearing Monday, conservative group South Jersey Citizens United noted on Tuesday that the fee hike was approved just weeks after Mayor David Mayer and Council boasted of a zero-tax-increase 2011 budget.

“This is the Mayor giving cover to the Council president (Glen Bianchini) and vice president (Orlando Mercado) in an election year. No new taxes but they shift the verbiage to fees," SJCU issues director Joe Reed said in a statement. “The residents and businesses in Gloucester Township deserve better than this political sleight of hand."

Brown offered a rhetorical question in defense of the fee hike during a recent email exchange with Patch.

"Why is it that when I go to Lowe’s for my garden supplies I must pay more than last year, yet when the fire district goes out to do a fire inspection we must do it at 1993 cost?" he said.

Council on Monday also unanimously approved an ordinance that will allow fire districts to penalize anyone selling their home, or moving in a new tenant, for waiting till the last minute to call for smoke detector inspections.

Anyone who waits till four to 10 days before the change of occupancy will now have to pay $75 for the inspection. Those calling for the inspection less than four days prior will have to pay $125.

"For those people who wait till the last minute, they will have to pay a premium because it costs us a premium," Brown told Council. "But we feel most people know more than 10 days before they're settling on their house."

The commissioner noted Monday the new fees are not intended to make money for the fire districts—the new fees will cover costs incurred for the inspections.

All fire districts but Blackwood reportedly support the fee hikes.

The new fees will take effect immediately after publication in the township's official newspapers.