In the past, Whitfield County has relied on builders to tell officials the price of construction for homes the builders are building. That number was used to calculate their building permit fee, and the county did not verify that number.
On Monday, the county Board of Commissioners voted 3-0 to adopt a uniform cost-of-construction fee of $100 per square foot. Commissioner Robby Staten was absent, and board Chairman Jevin Jensen usually votes only when there is a tie.
“We are seeing dollar amounts of $45, $58, $56, well below what anybody can really build a house for,” said Jensen. “It’s not fair to the builders who come in and are candid and open about how much they’re spending or a citizen how much they are spending on a new home.”
The move will not change the actual fee table. Staff will multiply $100 times the square footage to determine the cost of construction and then apply the fee to that amount.
The initial proposal was to set the cost of construction to a flat $145 per square foot. That is 88% of the national average.
Realtor Octavio Perez told the commissioners he had talked to builders who told him that $145 would be too high. Several commissioners agreed with that assessment.
County officials said the new fee scale will be more consistent and fair.
The commissioners also voted 3-0 to:
• Approve a $607,000 contract with Graphite Construction of Cartersville to remodel the bathrooms in fire stations 2 through 6.
• Approve a $100,000 contract with Trane for repairs to the heating and air conditioning system at the jail. The work will be funded by a state jail mitigation grant.
• Approve a six-month, $91,568.38 maintenance agreement with Motorola for the county’s emergency dispatch radio system.
• Approve a $78,000 purchase of new uniforms for the fire department through Sourcewell, a buyers cooperative representing more than 50,000 local governments and school systems across the country.
• Approve the $49,000 purchase of a computer for the fire department from First Due of Garden City, New York.
• Accept a $36,051 state American Rescue Plan Act grant to fund a full-time investigator in the district attorney’s office.
• Reappoint Matthew Thames as guardian ad litem in Whitfield County Juvenile Court for one year. The guardian ad litem represents the interests of the children in court proceedings. Thames will receive $42,850.
• Reappoint Jerry Moncus, Bryan Rayburn and Joshua Smith as indigent defense attorneys for Whitfield County Juvenile Court for one year. Each will receive $35,350.
• Allow vehicles to be bought through state purchasing contracts. These contracts are negotiated by the state government, which is often able to get better terms than local governments.