Some fees for services and documents provided through the Bartholomew County Health Department will be increasing.
The Bartholomew County Commissioners passed the second reading of an ordinance amending the county health department’s fee schedule in a number of areas. The changes are effective Jan. 1. Ordinances must be passed on two readings to be approved — the commissioners approved the first reading on Aug. 5.
An ordinance the commissioners also passed on Monday regulating tattoo and body-piercing shops required an update to the fee schedule, and Bartholomew County Director of Environmental Health Link Fulp said they decided to go ahead and update a number of other fees as well while they were at it. Some of the fees are to remain the same and others that hadn’t been changed in nearly 20 years in some cases will be increasing.
“There’s been significant increases in personnel costs, supply costs to perform these functions,” Fulp said of the increases.
Fulp noted the fee schedule does not fully fund program activities, but instead “shares costs with those customers who are actually requesting the listed services.”
When compared to the other 91 Indiana counties, the proposed amounts are in the low-to-medium range, county officials previously said.
With the passage of the ordinance, the cost of a birth or death certificate will rise from $10 to $12. Fees for mortgage loan inspections will double to $100 because of the time it takes to perform on-site inspections and property searches, Fulp said. The proposed fee schedule calls for a $50 increase to get a mobile food booth permit— Fulp said the department has gone from issuing 50 stickers to more than 90 for mobile food trucks.
The proposal also calls for permit fees for a onsite wastewater disposal system to double from $100 to $200.
“It takes a long time to site the septic system, insure the house and check the plans,” Fulp said on August 5. “But as for repairs, we have left those fees the same. We would rather provide people with an incentive to make the repair as part of a voluntary compliance by not overcharging for the permit itself.”
The cost for preliminary certificates required in the development of subdivisions will double too. For one lot, the cost will go from $100 to $200, and from $50 to $100 for each additional lot.
Finally, the proposal calls for annual permits for public or semi-public swimming pools or spas to go up to $150 annually. That is $50 more than what residents are currently paying.
Below is the fee schedule for services and records provided by the Bartholomew County Health Department, effective January 1, 2025. Increased fees are denoted in bold type:
- Temporary food establishment (for each day of operation. Not to exceed 14 consecutive days or $280): $20
- Temporary Farmers Market food service: $50
- Mobile retail food establishments: $150 annually or $75 from July through December.
- New on-site waste water disposal system: $200
- Repair on-site waste water disposal system: $100
- Minor repair to waste water disposal system: $50
- Site assessment fee (preliminary certificate): $200 for one lot. Each additional lot: $100
- Contractor registration fee or annual renewal: $50
- Housing loan inspection fees: $100. For septic only: $100. Water only or water re-sample: $50
- Public or semi-public swimming pools or spas: $150 annually. $75 seasonal
- Birth certificate: Regular (with sleeve): $12. Home birth registration: $30. Correction by notification: $20. Copy of paternity affidavit on file: $5
- Corrected certificates: Paternity affidavit, paternity affidavit upon marriage and affidavit of amendment: $30.
- Death certificate: $12
- Immunizations, oral, mist: At insurance pay rate
- Screenings: Either cost or insurance pay rate
- Tattoo and body piercing facility: $250 (annual)
- Tattoo artist: $25 (annual)
