County adding 12 workers for building oversight

Trying to keep up with the county’s building industry, Collier County leaders approved expanding the department that authorizes and inspects new construction.

Commissioners agreed earlier this week to hire 12 more full-time equivalent workers for the Community Development and Environmental Services Division.

Full-time equivalent means that two or more people could work part-time to share the same job.

According to county officials, the number of issued building permits more than doubled between 1995 and 2005, increasing from 16,383 to 34,980.

The county has 10 permit technicians and 11 plan reviewers. The 12 new hires would increase those numbers to 12 permit techs and 14 plan reviewers.

By Tuesday, department chief Joe Schmitt said he already began advertising for applicants, which include four building inspectors, three plan reviewers, an operations analyst, two permitting techs, an administrative supervisor for the records room, and a field engineering inspector.

Permit fee money would pay for the new jobs, which are expected to cost an additional $300,000 for the balance of the current fiscal year, which ends Sept. 30. For the new year that begins Oct. 1, those new employees would cost the county an additional $897,000, according to a report prepared by Garrett Mullee in the department’s business management and budget office.

Current personnel costs for that division were not immediately available, but for the fiscal year that ended Sept. 30, Schmitt’s entire department budget was $30.8 million. The fiscal 2006 adopted budget was $54.1 million, but county officials expect that to increase to $56.4 million by Sept. 30. The proposed fiscal 2007 budget is $60.9 million.

Schmitt also has plans to renovate his lobby, which hasn’t seen improvements since 1988 when the building department processed 5,465 permits. The renovation should cost about $2.3 million. While commissioners didn’t approve the renovation on Tuesday, they did authorize the transfer of that approximate sum to a capital improvement fund.

At some point in the near future, commissioners will hold a workshop to discuss perceived problems with the permitting process, Schmitt said after Tuesday’s commission meeting.