Post date: Feb 07, 2017 3:43:13 PM
Good Morning:
This email is being sent to owners of of multiple rental properties in Williamstown. On Monday, February 6, 2017, the Board of Health unanimously approved the following fees for rental dwelling unit certification:
1. Inspection prior to occupancy - $35.
2. Inspection after occupancy - $70 (unless allowed by Chapter 154, or with specific permission of the Heath Inspector).
3. Complaint Inspection on uncertified units - $140 (complaint inspections on certified units would have no charge).
As you will note, the fee has not changed for those who are currently following the requirements of the Code of the Town of Williamstown Chapter 154, Rental Units.
The new fees will become effective on July 1, 2017. If you have units that have not been inspected and certified by this office, you have time to come into compliance before the new fees become effective.
Please contact his office, by email, if you have further questions.
Jeff
Jeffrey C. Kennedy, RS
Health Inspector/Sealer of Weights and Measures
This is the email sent to the larger property owners.
This is the rational in which the Board of Health based their fee increase:
The comparison is made for the 50 percent surcharge assessed on annual permits. By using a financial incentive NOT to be late, we've been able to collect our applications in a timely manner. Most applicants were only late ONCE.
Were we to use non-criminal disposition, the fines would go from warning to $200 a day for non-compliance. However these tickets for non-criminal disposition are costly to send certified, including time spent filing with the court for judgment to recoup the fines and get compliance.
The idea has been germinating in the Health Inspector's mind for some time, using the fee to encourage good behavior and compliance with the Board of Health regulation. The cost of what they pay for a CoC is totally at the discretion of the property owner - how little or much s/he wishes to bear.
During the Community Development fee analysis study that is being undertaken, it was found that some towns are doubling fees for permit applications filed AFTER the work has commenced, or when the contractor got caught.
The increase in fees are borne only by those property owners who are not complying with the regulation.