To: Board of Supervisors
From: Matt Slattengren, Ag Commissioner/Weights & Measures Director
Report Title: Weights and Measures Device Registration Fees
☒Recommendation of the County Administrator ☐ Recommendation of Board Committee
RECOMMENDATIONS:
1. OPEN the public hearing to consider adopting Ordinance No. 2024-04, amending the County’s ordinance code to update annual device registration fees for the inspection and testing of commercial weighing and measuring devices; RECEIVE testimony; and CLOSE the public hearing.
2. ADOPT Ordinance No. 2024-04.
FISCAL IMPACT:
Collection of the fees will allow the Department to continue to run this mandated consumer protection program and get closer to meeting the mandated number of inspections per year. The County charges less than the cost of each inspection of each device type because the maximum fees that can be collected are established by state law. Currently the Department collects about $800,000 in fees per year and spends about $1.7 million a year on the program. The increased device fees are estimated to increase the annual collection by $170,000.
The following chart shows the average inspection cost for each device fee that will increase through amendment of this Ordinance, as well as the maximum fee for each device as established by state law:
|
Device |
Inspection Cost |
Device Fee Amount (If Amended) |
|
CNG Meter |
$584.69 |
$185.00 |
|
Fabric, Cordage, Wire Meters |
$230.11 |
$26.00 |
|
LPG Meters |
$634.14 |
$185.00 |
|
Retail Petroleum Devices |
$29.43 |
$26.00 |
|
Retail Water Meters |
$150.50 |
$26.00 |
|
Taxi Meters |
$186.40 |
$26.00 |
|
Vapor Submeters |
$29.80 |
$10.00 |
|
Water Meters |
$165.63 |
$26.00 |
|
Water Submeters |
$9.28 |
$6.00 |
|
Wholesale Meters |
$341.15 |
$75.00 |
|
Misc. Measuring Devices |
$419.49 |
$26.00 |
|
Class 2 |
$919.36 |
$80.00 |
|
Computing Scales |
$78.97 |
$25.00 |
|
Counter Scales |
$262.83 |
$26.00 |
BACKGROUND:
Fees collected for the Device Registration program help to ensure equity in the marketplace. The Department uses the fees to fund the mandated Weights & Measures program that tests all commercial weighing and measuring devices used for transactions to ensure they are correct throughout the County. There are increasingly new types of devices in the county which require inspection to ensure they are correct for use, such as Electric Vehicle Charging Stations.
CONSEQUENCE OF NEGATIVE ACTION:
If the Department cannot increase fees while the cost of doing the inspections continues to increase, the Department will continue to fall behind on mandated inspections and be unable to hire new staff to cover inspections of all the new devices that are being commercially used in Contra Costa County.