Recently, the Texas State Legislature adopted House Bill No. 3492 relating to municipal authority to impose certain value-based fees. It states, “A municipality may not consider the cost of constructing or improving the public infrastructure for a subdivision, lot, or related property development in determining the amount of fee subject to this section.” This bill goes into effect September 1, 2023.
Currently, the City of Plano assesses a four percent (4%) inspection fee for permitted construction within the City of Plano. HB 3492 requires “The municipality shall determine the fee by considering the municipality’s actual cost to, as applicable, review and process the engineering or construction plan or to inspect the public infrastructure improvement.”
The Engineering Department proposes to revise its current inspection fee to an hourly rate for the estimated actual direct time of municipality’s employees performing those services and recommends an amendment to a certain section of the Code of Ordinances to establish new engineering inspection fees to be consistent with new state law requirements.
If this ordinance revision is not passed, the City of Plano’s current inspection fees will not be consistent with current Texas State Legislature and the City would be unable to charge inspection fees for projects.