Marin County hikes planning and building fees

Hey, somebody has to pay for the bloated salaries, benefits and pensions of our government masters - so that they can give away our taxdollars to their donor's pet projects - such as foreign petrochemical conglomerates like Royal Dutch Shell, doing business as the Marin Energy Authority! Yeah - you - homeowner! The recession hasn't hit you hard enough yet? Wait till we shake you down for all your'e worth! A fence? You think that we should ALLOW you to replace your fence? That's going to cost you - big time! A porch - in this County? Well, we are just going to have to charge you SIX times more for that! Suckah!

You've got to be kidding me. First they're going to tell you how your fence has to look, how high it can be, what green/fire resistant materials it can be made of, and then they're going to charge you $479 for the honor. All this is going to do is convince more people to skip the permit and take their chances.

The only winners here will be unlicensed builders who will just ignore the rules. Marin County needs an overhaul. Perhaps after my run for City Council in San Rafael, I'll run for Supervisor. This action hurts our legitimate contractors. With basically no enforcement by the county, dangerous conditions will prevail. We need to get our honest contractors to work and and end the high cost of county government. This move by the Supes is anti union, anti small business and anti jobs for the hard working legitmate contractors.

people, this is socialism, communism, marxism, call it what you want. Get used to it.

first, vote out Marin Supervisors, ALL OF THEM.

but in the meantime, hire sonoma contractors and east bay contractors, much cheaper. Skip the permits because this is AMERICAN not HITLER RUN GERMANY!

Planet Marin wrote:

You've got to be kidding me. First they're going to tell you how your fence has to look, how high it can be, what green/fire resistant materials it can be made of, and then they're going to charge you $479 for the honor. All this is going to do is convince more people to skip the permit and take their chances.

Exactly!! When can we vote out these idiots???

So where do our taxes go then?

Wait a second. The cost of remodeling goes up to $5,000. Permits to build a new house will be $1,700. Sounds like a joke. Actually, the whole county planning system is a joke.

Nice. The contruction industry is in the toilet so the county just rubs salt in the wound.

Vote out the board of stupidvisors!

Public Sector FOOLS!! How about increasing productivity in your business units before raising yet another tax?!!!....or better yet, take a pay/pension cut like the rest of CA!!

My Brother lives in Minnesota. His fees for building a new house were in the neighborhood of $300. Marin County would be 50 times that. I know since I recently buiit a house in Marin. Design review, septic, coastal permit, planning fees, inspection fees and, believe it or not, a road tax. It amounted to something north of $15,000 for the project. Do you get anything more in Marin than Minn? Nope. Solution - cut 80% of the staff at big pink

This is leadership??? Bankrupting the County. Raising taxes...$2 billion in unfunded liabilities..unemployment over 20%....higher taxes....higher use fees.....property values DOWN 30 - 40% in Novato....public employees RETIRING at 54 and making $200k a year for LIFE??? All the while laying on JOB Killing fees .... AND allowing illegal immigrants to wreck havoc on our underfunded schools and hospitals. This is leadership?? Our poor children.

HowTheyDoIt wrote:

This is leadership??? Bankrupting the County. Raising taxes...$2 billion in unfunded liabilities..unemployment over 20%....higher taxes....higher use fees.....property values DOWN 30 - 40% in Novato....public employees RETIRING at 54 and making $200k a year for LIFE??? All the while laying on JOB Killing fees .... AND allowing illegal immigrants to wreck havoc on our underfunded schools and hospitals. This is leadership?? Our poor children.

The only issue which would be more absurd is if the county somehow manages to make San Rafael get a permit at a higher cost to rebuild the fire stations. Nothing is off the table in these budget restrained times. But I won't lose any sleep over it, as measure G will fail.

OBAMA wrote:

people, this is socialism, communism, marxism, call it what you want. Get used to it.
first, vote out Marin Supervisors, ALL OF THEM.
but in the meantime, hire sonoma contractors and east bay contractors, much cheaper. Skip the permits because this is AMERICAN not HITLER RUN GERMANY!

Wow, somebody didn't have breakfast today. Hitler? Communism? Marxism? Get a grip.

Martina2 wrote:

<quoted text>
Wow, somebody didn't have breakfast today. Hitler? Communism? Marxism? Get a grip.

This county is overrun with regualtions. It may not be nazism but it's not democratic either.

Block the Richmond Bridge wrote:

So where do our taxes go then?

Oh, dear, you must be new! They take all of it for Salaries and Pensions! What a bunch of CROOKS! Just hang on folks, it will get worse! VOTE them OUT!
Pobre Ustedes

They never mention the THEFT of Road Maintenance funds.
Some $255 Mil deferred maintenance on our roads, funds gobbled up in the "BUDGET"
Pobre Ustedes