To: Board of Directors
From: Lewis Broschard, Chief, Contra Costa County Fire Protection District
Report Title: HEARING to consider adopting Ordinance No. 2026-07, to revise and increase fees for fire prevention services including fire safety inspections, permitting of specific operations, and plan review services within the Contra Costa County Fire Protection District.
☒Recommendation of the County Administrator ☐ Recommendation of Board Committee
RECOMMENDATIONS:
Hold a HEARING to consider adopting Contra Costa County Fire Protection District Ordinance No. 2026-07 to establish fees for permits, inspections, plan reviews, and other services performed by the District.
1. OPEN the public hearing to consider adopting Contra Costa County Fire Protection District Ordinance No. 2026-07, to establish fees for permits, inspections, plan reviews, or other services performed by the District; CLOSE the public hearing; and CONSIDER staff’s presentation, all public comments and testimony, including all written comments, and all objections received prior to the close of the public hearing.
2. DETERMINE that the fees established by Ordinance No. 2026-07 are calculated to recover, and do not exceed, the District's reasonable costs for performing the services and activities for which the fees will be charged.
3. ADOPT Ordinance No. 2026-07.
FISCAL IMPACT:
Adoption of this Ordinance will update the District’s Fire Prevention Bureau fees so that they more accurately reflect the reasonable cost of providing plan review, inspection, permitting, and regulatory services.
The 2026 User Fee Study determined that the District currently recovers approximately $3.7 million annually in Fire Prevention fees, representing about 45% of the estimated $8.3 million cost of providing these services. Adoption of the revised fee schedule will improve the District’s cost recovery and better align fee revenues with the costs incurred in providing these services.
Revenue generated from the revised fees will support the District’s Fire Prevention Bureau operations including plan review, code enforcement, inspections, and permitting activities.
BACKGROUND:
The Contra Costa County Fire Protection District conducts fire safety inspections, issues operational permits, and performs plan review services pursuant to the California Fire Code, California Health and Safety Code, and other applicable regulations.
The Health and Safety Code authorizes fire protection districts to charge reasonable fees to recover the costs associated with enforcing fire and life safety regulations and providing related services. These services include but are not limited to:
• Fire safety inspections of regulated occupancies
• Plan review for new construction and tenant improvements
• Inspection and acceptance testing of fire protection systems
• Issuance of operational permits for regulated activities
The District first adopted a Fire Prevention Fee Schedule in 1986, and the Board has periodically updated the schedule to reflect changes in the cost of providing services. The most recent comprehensive revision occurred in 2021.
Since that time, the cost of providing Fire Prevention services has increased due to rising personnel, equipment, and administrative costs. To ensure compliance with California law requiring that regulatory fees not exceed the reasonable cost of service, the District retained NBS Government Finance Group to conduct a comprehensive User Fee Study.
USER FEE STUDY
The 2026 User Fee Study analyzed the costs associated with the District’s Fire Prevention Bureau services, including activities performed by the Engineering Unit and the Code Enforcement Unit.
The study evaluated:
• Personnel costs (salary, wages, and benefits)
• Operating and administrative costs
• Indirect support and overhead costs
• Staff time required to perform individual services
Using these factors, the study established a fully burdened hourly rate of $353 per hour for Fire Prevention Bureau services and $395 per hour for overtime services.
This hourly rate represents the average cost of providing Fire Prevention services and serves as the basis for calculating the cost of individual inspections, plan reviews, and permits.
COST RECOVERY FINDINGS
The study determined that the District’s Fire Prevention Bureau currently recovers approximately 45 percent of the cost of providing services through fees, with the remaining costs subsidized by other District funding sources.
At full cost recovery, the study estimates that the District could recover approximately $8.3 million annually, compared to approximately $3.7 million currently collected.
The revised fee schedule included with this ordinance is designed to better align fees with the District’s cost of service while maintaining flexibility for the Board to establish cost recovery levels consistent with local policy goals.
As explained more fully in the 2026 User Fee Study, staff have determined that the fees (1) are calculated to recover the reasonable costs to the District for issuing licenses and permits, performing investigations, inspections, audits, and other activities performed by Fire Prevention Bureau staff, (2) that said fees are no more than necessary to recover the reasonable costs of the District’s activities for which the fees are charged, and (3) to the extent any fee is a regulatory fee, that the manner in which those costs are allocated to payors of the fees bears a fair and reasonable relationship to each payor’s burdens on, and benefits received from, the District’s regulatory activities.
REVISIONS TO THE FEE SCHEDULE
The updated Fire Prevention Bureau fee schedule incorporates several structural changes recommended in the study, including:
Engineering Fees
• Addition of Wildland Urban Interface fire protection plan review fees
• Consolidation of water supply review categories
• Updated building construction and tenant improvement review categories
• Conversion of fire protection system fees to square-footage based calculations
• Addition of UL 9540A Energy Storage System review fees
Code Enforcement Fees
• Updated operational permit categories to align with current California Fire Code requirements
• Revised inspection fee structures
• Addition of weed abatement related fees
• Clarification and simplification of permit categories
These revisions improve transparency, align the fee schedule with current Fire Code requirements, and better reflect the services currently provided by the Fire Prevention Bureau.
Notice of the public hearing was published in accordance with Government Code section 6066, and the 2026 User Fee Study and other required information was made available at least 10 days before the hearing date at both the District office and the Clerk of the Board of Supervisors office. Staff recommend that the Board take the actions specified in the recommendations of this staff report in order to adopt Ordinance No. 2026-07.
CONSEQUENCE OF NEGATIVE ACTION:
If the Board does not adopt the proposed ordinance, the District’s existing Fire Prevention Fee Schedule will remain in effect. As a result, the District will continue recovering only a portion of the cost of providing fire prevention services.
This would require the District to continue subsidizing these regulatory services with other revenues, reducing resources available for other fire protection and emergency response activities.
ATTACHMENTS:
Ordinance No. 2026-07
Exhibit A - NBS User Fee Study Summary
Exhibit B -Fire Prevention Bureau Fee Schedule