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Consent-Health & Human Services # 17.
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| Board of Supervisors |
Health |
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| Subject |
| Adopt administrative policy allowing the Director of Environmental Health, or his/her designee, to waive or reduce Health Department fees pertaining to the Environmental Health Division in specified circumstances. (No general fund impact) (Cook/Lindbo) |
| Recommended Action |
| Adopt administrative policy allowing the Director of Environmental Health, or his/her designee, to waive or reduce Health Department fees pertaining to the Environmental Health Division in specified circumstances. |
| Strategic Plan Goal(s) |
| Provide fiscally sound, dynamic and responsive services |
| Reason for Recommended Action/Background |
Environmental Health fees are contained in the Yolo County Master Fee list. The Administrative Policy on Cost Recovery and Fees provides that the Board of Supervisors may delegate authority to other county officials to waive or reduce fees.
There are circumstances in which it is reasonable for the Environmental Health Division to waive or reduce fees, these include late fees and refund fees.
Late Fees: Environmental Health sends bills to fee-paying customers on a monthly basis. At times, the customer is delinquent in paying the bill, resulting in late fees being assessed. As a negotiation measure to encourage full payment of past due accounts, waiving late fees can encourage the customer to pay the full amount due.
Refund Fees: In some cases a member of the public may mistakenly apply for a permit that was not required or circumstances out of their control may prevent the execution of the permit. In these cases the customer may request a refund of the application or permit fee. When a refund is given, a refund fee applies. Waiving the refund fee is reasonable when it is clear that there is a misunderstanding of the requirements, where there was little or no staff time spent processing the application, where the refund fee otherwise appears punitive, or in other circumstances where waiving the refund fee can restore goodwill. |
| Other Agency Involvement |
| County Counsel and the County Administrator's Offices were consulted with respect to the proposed policy. |
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| Fiscal Impact |
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| Source of Funds for this Expenditure |
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Explanation (Expenditure and/or Revenue) |
| Further explanation as needed: |
By encouraging full payment of past due amounts with the waiver of late fees, Environmental Health can process and close out past due accounts in an efficient and timely manner, saving staff time and resources when past due accounts are re-billed. Furthermore encouraging timely full payment prevents accounts from being sent to the collection service.
It is estimated that waiving refund fees will be be infrequent and will not result in any level of fiscal significance. |
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