Biscayne Park adopts new building permit fee schedule to comply with state law

The Village of Biscayne Park adopted an amended building permit fee schedule to comply with changes in state law requiring municipalities to base certain permit charges on inspection costs rather than total project cost. The commission approved Resolution 2026-49 after staff and the building official explained how current formulas were converted into fixed dollar-per-square-foot amounts and why the change is required by statute.

Staff explained the practical effect: the building official translated current fees into a square-foot model and raised the minimum permit fee slightly (to $130) to reflect inflation and maintain parity for small home maintenance permits like AC or water-heater exchanges. "We translated the fees we're charging now into a fixed dollar value per square foot," said Pedro, the building official, and staff said they expect the schedule to be largely revenue neutral.

Why it mattered: The Florida Legislature's recent changes (cited in the meeting as section 553.798 and House Bill 803) require the village to revise its fee structure by July 1, and staff said the new schedule includes a provision to adjust fees annually for CPI so the commission would not need to pass a new resolution each year.

Commissioners asked for a comparison showing how the new fees match prior formulas; staff said they ran conversion formulas to produce nearly equivalent amounts and that they will bring data back if annual adjustments require amendment. The resolution was approved on the record; the transcript does not show a roll-call tally.

Next steps: The building department will publish the new fee schedule, implement the change on July 1 and report back to the commission on any material revenue variances after a period of operation.