§ 8-12. Fees.

(a)

The appointing authority shall establish a permit fee applicable throughout its jurisdiction. Any person desiring a permit to be issued shall, in addition to filing an application therefor and before such permit is issued, pay the required permit fee. The fee schedule to be adopted shall identify the amount of the fee attributed to plans review, initial inspection and reinspection. The appointing authority may impose the fees authorized by law for repeated plans examinations or inspections.

(b)

Basis of permit fee. The Building Official may require an estimate of cost and/or other descriptive data as a basis for determining the permit fee.

(c)

Double fee. When work for which a permit is required is started prior to the obtaining of said permit, the applicant for a permit shall be required to pay double the fee as specified herein as the cost of the permit. The payment of a permit fee shall not relieve any person, firm or corporation from fully complying with the requirements of this Code, nor from any other penalties prescribed therein.

(d)

Building Code Administration Fee. All applications for building permits and premises permits issued pursuant to the Building Code shall be on a form approved by the Board of Rules and Appeals and, in addition to any other fees charged by any County or municipal building official, shall include a Building Code Administration fee to be determined, assessed and collected in the manner contemplated in this section. The administration fees paid by permit applicants shall be deposited in a separate County fund and shall be used exclusively for the Building and Neighborhood Compliance Department to pay for the costs of performing the Building Code administration functions as defined in Section 8-8 herein.

(e)

Assessment of code administration fee. Prior to the issuance of any building permit pursuant to the Building Code, including any premise permit, each building official for Miami-Dade County or any municipality shall assess a code administration fee in the amount specified in the relevant departmental fee schedule established by separate implementing order and approved by the Board of County Commissioners. This code administration fee shall be in addition to and not in derogation of other fees and costs that may be payable as a condition of obtaining the permit and shall be nonrefundable.

(f)

Exemption. A permit obtained for an individual trade or specialty shall be exempt from imposition of the code administration fee provided that the value of the work for which such permit is obtained has already been subjected to the code administration fee.

(g)

Collection of fee. The governmental authority issuing a permit pursuant to the Building Code shall be responsible for the collection of the code administration fee provided for in this section prior to the issuance of the permit. Any and all code administration fees collected by Miami-Dade County and the municipalities shall be paid to the Miami-Dade County Finance Department not later than the fifteenth day of the month following the month of collection by wire transfer or check or through an automated clearing house. Notwithstanding the foregoing, in the event that the code administration fee collected by any municipality shall not exceed one hundred dollars ($100.00) per month for a continuous period of three (3) months, then the Secretary of the Board of Rules and Appeals, upon request by that municipality, shall permit the municipality to make its remittances and reports to the County on a quarterly basis. In the event that a governmental authority remits the funds on or before the due date set forth above, such authority shall be entitled to retain that portion of the remittance due to Miami-Dade County which represents its costs of collection of this code administration fee, not to exceed one and one-half (1½) percent of the total remittance due for that period. In the event that the remittance is not made when due, the governmental authority shall remit to Miami-Dade County the entire balance of fees collected pursuant to this section to defray Miami-Dade County's additional costs incurred in connection with that government's delay in remitting the amount.

(h)

Submission of report. Each governmental authority issuing permits pursuant to the Building Code shall, on or before the fifteenth day of each month or on a quarterly basis as may be allowed by the Secretary of the Board of Rules and Appeals pursuant to Section 8-9(f), submit to the Secretary of the Board of Rules and Appeals which shall contain for the applicable period of collection such information as the Secretary of the Board of Rules and Appeals may reasonably require to oversee collection of the code administration fee. Permit and permit fee collection records of all governmental authorities subject to this section shall be available for audit and review by Miami-Dade County at all times.

(i)

Payment of permit fees and charges.

(1)

Notwithstanding any provisions of this Code to the contrary, all fees and charges assessed by County departments, including impact fees, which are required to be paid as a condition of the issuance of a building permit shall not be charged if all of the following conditions are met:

(a)

The permit to be obtained will correct a violation for work without permit or for work with an expired permit for which the property owner has been cited by the Building and Neighborhood Compliance Department.

(b)

The permit applicant was not the owner of the property at the time the violation was committed or is not the contractor who performed the work without the required permit or allowed the permit to expire.

(c)

The work performed without a permit was commenced prior to March 1, 2002, or the permit which expired was issued under the South Florida Building Code.

(d)

The work under the building permit is for an improvement to a single-family or duplex residence, townhouse or condominium which is occupied by the property owner and has had a valid homestead exemption for the past five years.

(e)

The property is owned by one or more individuals each of whom are 65 years of age or older whose combined annual household income is not greater than the qualifying amount for an additional homestead exemption under this Code. Where the joint owners are married, only one of the owners must meet the minimum age requirement.

(2)

Each development department will track the amount of permit fees and charges affected by this exemption each fiscal year. The general fund shall reimburse each of the development departments the amount of permit fees and charges exempted as part of the following fiscal year's budget. In the event that the amount of permit fees exempted by this Subsection 8-12(i) exceeds $100,000.00 in the aggregate, this Subsection shall be of no further force or effect unless reenacted by this Board.

(3)

This subsection is not intended to waive any permit fees or charges assessed by departments of the State of Florida or federal government.

(Ord. No. 01-112, § 1, 7-10-01; Ord. No. 06-56, § 1, 4-25-06; Ord. No. 10-64, § 6, 9-24-10; Ord. No. 13-92, § 9, 9-19-13; Ord. No. 17-65, § 9, 9-28-17)