Correction: This story has been corrected to clarify that Garfield County building permit fees will now be calculated using an estimated construction cost of $171 per square foot, not that fees will cost $171 per square foot.

Garfield County commissioners on Monday unanimously approved a second increase in county building permit fees, raising fees for a 3,000 square foot single-family residence by almost $1,876.

“The issue with today’s fee structure is that it puts a burden on the broader taxpayer/general fund to cover the difference between the incoming fees and the actual operating costs of the building department,” a memorandum from Chief Building Official John Plano to county commissioners states.

Last year, county commissioners approved the first building permit fee increase in Garfield County in over 20 years. County building permit fees were calculated since 1997 using $74.68 per square foot as the construction cost for a single-family residence. The estimated cost was raised in 2025 to the International Code Council’s 2024 Valuation amount multiplied by a .6 modifier — about $102 per square foot. That meant that for a 3,000 square foot single-family residence, permit fees cost around $1.18 per square foot.

The raised fees were meant to cover the department’s 2025 operating budget. Projected 2025 revenue without a fee increase was about $430,000, while 2024 department expenses totaled $763,911. 

However, current county building permit fees only cover around half of the budget, according to Plano. 

To cover the entire operating budget, building permit fees will now be calculated using the most recent ICC valuation data and automatically update every six months to account for inflation. 

A building permit for a single family home will now be calculated based on an estimated construction cost of almost $171 per square foot with no modifier, a 130% increase from 2024. For a 3,000 square foot single-family home, building permit fees will now cost around 1% of the valuation — $5437.57, or about $1.81 per square foot — an increase of almost $1,876.

The Garfield County Building Department’s income is projected to rise by about 25% due to the increase, Plano told commissioners Monday. 

It costs anywhere from $250 to $800 per square foot to actually construct a home in Garfield County, according to Plano’s memo. Even with increased fees, building permits will only account for around 0.73% of the actual total construction cost for a 3,000 square foot home at $250 per foot.

Permit fee increases will go into effect within the next month, after county commissioners sign a resolution officially implementing the new rate, according to Plano. 

“I think we have two conflicting issues in front of us: One is that it will increase the cost of housing by about $2,000 (for a 3,000 square foot home) and housing’s already tough in Garfield County,” Commissioner Tom Jankovsky said Monday before voting in favor of the change.                   

“The second issue is that we’re going through a change in Garfield County with our budgeting,” he added. “We went from a county that had lots of reserves and money from the oil and gas industry to where we’re really struggling this year with our budget and any additional funding in the long run helps our budgeting process.”