Setting the record straight

Last week in this space, The Star News raised concerns about the cost of the inspection fees charged for commercial vendors at community events and the negative impacts this will have on these events and, by extension, the community as a whole.

Editorials are supposed to be strongly worded. They are supposed to ruffle feathers and prompt people to think and talk about issues.

They are also supposed to be based on correct information.

Last week’s editorial hit the target on three of those four.

The editorial stated the fee charged for the inspections was new. This was incorrect. While the fee was not charged last summer, because the county did not have a local inspector, a fee had been charged in the past. What is new is that event organizers are now aware the county is charging an inspection fee. In the past this was something that was handled between the individual vendors and the county inspector.

According to county health director Michelle Cahoon, the county does not have an option to charge fees. She also clarified that there are different inspections, fees and licenses at play with vendors at community events. A three-page list of the county license fees includes 16 different food-related fees of varying amounts based on if they are retail food, mobile or transient events.

What is even more confusing to the layperson is that for a licensed restaurant to serve off-site, the business is required to get an additional license, along with the expectation for a site inspection and fee. This is opposed to food trucks which are self-contained and licensed, and which are also inspected with a fee charged, or a transient which may set up a food stand and be gone within a day or even hours, which must also be licensed and subject to inspection.

It is up to individual business owners to do the math and see if it is worthwhile to maintain the licenses needed to serve offsite. The challenge in all small population counties, such as Taylor County, is that there may not be enough events or customers at those events to justify the cost.

As county health officials point out, the end goal of these fees is not to pad county coffers, but to help cover the cost of protecting the health and safety of residents and visitors to the county.

To that extent, the answer to the question asked in last week’s editorial is unequivocally yes, the fees and inspections are money well spent to prevent needless illness and the potential for death due to food-borne pathogens or improper handling of ingredients and materials.

The best option when people have questions about licenses and fees is to ask the folks at the health department about them. Chances are you will find that for the most part they don’t like collecting them any more than business owners and individuals enjoy paying them.

All that aside, there remain legitimate societal concerns about the growing reliance — and ever-increasing amounts — of government fees. Elected officials from the state legislature down to municipal boards find them more politically palatable than raising taxes to the level needed to maintain services.

In many cases, such as the fees charged by the county health department for things like inspections of commercial food vendors, short-term rentals, or other required inspections, state government agencies demand a sizable cut of any local fees collected even though all the work and administrative paperwork is done at the local level. At the same time, the county board has called on departmental budgets to absorb increases in payroll and benefits, along with the rising costs of everything else. In this atmosphere, fee increases not only occur, but should be expected in the future.

As is often the case, the person collecting the fees unfairly bears the brunt of criticism and complaints from those having to pay it.