By City Times staff

WISCONSIN RAPIDS – During their August meeting, the Wood County Board of Supervisors approved a resolution that will adjust the county’s planning & zoning fee schedule.

“Those are things like permits for subdivisions, permits for private sewage ordinance, floodplain zoning, shoreland zoning, land subdivision, stuff like that,” said Wood County Board Chairman Doug Machon. “I had encouraged the Planning & Zoning office to take a look at that stuff, because, as we looked at revenue streams in the county last year, in the first budget, I had encouraged people in all departments to take a look at their revenues to make sure they were up to date.

“When Planning & Zoning looked at theirs, they began to realize that they were woefully inadequate. We were in many cases the lowest, or the second lowest, county in the state regarding some of these fees. And, in comparison to our neighboring counties, we were much lower than even our surrounding counties.”

The department then worked to get the fees in line with neighboring counties and around the state.

“Most of those fees hadn’t been adjusted in over 10 years,” Machon added. “Estimated, it will give us an annual kick of 25-35 percent in revenue in the specific area.”

Machon said that while many fees were raised, some were lowered, and others were eliminated.

The board voted 17-2 to pass the resolution, with Supervisors Joe Zurfluh and Brad Hamilton voting no.

“I think they really realized when they looked at how woefully behind we were, compared to the state, that it was the right thing to do,” Machon explained. “Nobody likes to see fees go up, but at the cost of the other taxpayers in the county carrying the load for probably unfair, or woefully low, fees, it’s probably the right thing to do.”