Background/Purpose of Request:
Due to the continued growth in the County it is necessary to add three (3) full-time multi-trade inspectors to our staff to meet the current and immediate future demand.
The Code Administration Department performed 52,158 total inspections for calendar year 2020. To date in 2021, we have surpassed that total and are projected to perform over 60,000 inspections by the end of the year.
Through October 2021, we have issued 17,039 more permits than we did in all of 2016, and have issued 6,673 more permits than we did in all of 2020. The increase in number of permits forecasts an increase in number of inspections, and provided there are no significant, unknown shifts in the market, staff feels this trend will stay steady beyond the short-term future.
Despite our efforts to maintain a high service level with our current staff, we are unable to meet the demands of the current development environment, and do not project that the demands will decrease significantly in the near future. Our internal goal for the department is to complete inspections within one day of the request, but for most of 2021 we have not been able to achieve this goal. Over the past several months we have been completing inspections 3-4 days, and sometimes 5 days, after the request is received.
The approval of three (3) new positions will allow us to better respond to our residents and development community, as well as reduce the workload on our current staff which will help avoid recruitment and retention issues within the department. While the immediate and future demand may require more than three additional Inspectors to reach our internal and stakeholder goals of one day turnaround on inspections, staff believes the addition of three Inspectors will significantly improve our service level.
By law, revenues generated within the Code Administration Department must be used within the department to support its service delivery. Over the last couple of years the Department has produced significant revenues over expenditures, mostly due to the high number of permits issued and inspections performed.
Permit and Inspection revenue continues to increase, rising from $2,188,513 in 2016 to over $4.3 million as we near the end of 2021. Revenues over expenditures for the Code Administration Department at the end of FY20 were $354,078, and revenues over expenditures as we finalize our FY21 audit report are expected to be over $600,000.
These funds are available to be reinvested back into the department, and could help support the funding request needed to fulfill the additional personnel, vehicles and equipment. However, it should also be noted that salaries and benefits are an ongoing expense that would be funded by the County using other revenue sources in the event revenues within the Code Administration Department decreased in the future due to market changes or demands. Staff will monitor the development market and workload demands within the department to ensure our workforce does not exceed external demand. |