Dawn-Euphemia council says people who build homes should pay for the inspection fees needed.

In a 3-2 vote, council approved a new building permit fee schedule which sees increase between six and 206 per cent.

New home building permits will go up about 66 per cent to $1,640. But that’s far less than the average fee of $2,200 around Lambton.

The township pays out more for the inspections that the permits cost. Officials expect the taxpayers would could subsidize building permit to the tune of $10,000 without the change.

Councillor Jason Myer said Monday that might not be a bad thing. “It’s the best 10,000 bucks you’ll ever lose..because that equals $30,000 more in tax assessment going forward forever…I hate to say give these guys a break on their permit fees, but I want them to build here.

Former councillor, Emery Huszka, agreed with Myer saying the township should consider rebating taxes to cover the building permit costs to encourage people to build in Dawn-Euphemia. “are we subsidizing building permits? Or are we investing like we do in the farm in additional revenue coming in?”

Mayor Al Broad didn’t agree saying the cost of the building permit isn’t that big of a deal. “We have the cheapest building permit fees in Lambton for 35 years; we don’t have any development fees, we’ve been the absolute cheapest, and they’re still not breaking down our doors.”