By Brian Wright | Maricopa Monitor
The message was loud and clear from small business owners at last week’s meeting of the Pinal County Board of Supervisors: If the county raises environmental health fees significantly, it will drive us out of business.
Public Health director Tom Schryer made a presentation to the board outlining his proposed changes to fees for environmental health services. He said most people don’t realize what it costs the county to perform these services; therefore, he said the county needs to collect significantly more money from its fees.
The environmental health fees currently collect $253,000 for the county. Under Schryer’s proposed fee increases, the county would collect $795,000.
“There’s a $542,000 gap between what we currently collect … and what it actually costs to provide the service,” Schryer said. “So the (county) general fund has been picking that up for some years.”
After numerous small business owners and citizens across the county complained during the public hearing section on the agenda item, the board decided it was best to continue the item until its Oct. 30 meeting to give Schryer time to come up with an alternative proposal.
