The cost of everything from restaurant permits to septic pumper licenses is going up for the second year in a row.

On Monday, the Island County Board of Health approved an across-the-board fee increase for environmental health public services, guaranteeing those who pay the fees will pay 15.5 percent more in 2003 than they did in 2001.

Acting on a directive from the Island County Board of Commissioners to become a fee-supported department, environmental health will raise all licensing and permitting costs by 8.7 percent for 2003. The proposed increase takes effect Jan. 1.

According to environmental health director Keith Higman, the bump in fees for 2003 is intended to offset an impending increase in employee health insurance costs and a general cost-of-living pay scale increase. The 8.7 percent figure covers the amount of additional revenue needed to balance next year’s budget. However, Higman said he’s not certain the increase will completely cover expenses.

“It is an educated guess,” he said.

Because many permitting fees are linked to building starts within the county, any dramatic decrease in new housing construction could result in a budgetary shortfall.

With the fee increase, the cost of a short plat review, for example, will rise from $444 to $483; a septic pumpers license would climb from $138 to $150; espresso stand permits from $162 to $176.

Environmental health fee and permitting revenues are lumped into the county’s public health pooling fund, Higman said, which is used to develop the budget for the entire health department.

In the past, environmental health has received a relatively small chunk of funding from the county’s current expense budget. Even when receiving current expense funding, officials in the environmental health department have found it necessary at times to increase fees to offset more general cost increases. Last year, fees went up 7.5 percent on average. Prior to 2001, the last time fees went up in the health department was in 1997, when the health board approved a 6 percent boost.

Higman said there are two downsides to making environmental health a fee-supported department. The first is the possible loss of funding due to a declining economy and a drop in building starts. The other concern, Higman said, is that having a program supported solely by permit fees and grants makes it difficult to move outside prescribed arenas of activity. “Our ability to conduct investigations that don’t have anything to do with permits and grants is severely curtailed,” he said. “We lose some flexibility in the types of services and programs that we can provide.”

Despite this possible loss of flexibility, Higman said he feels the department will continue to keep pace with the health needs of the county and its citizens. He said the new fee schedule “will result in no decrease in the level of service we provide.” Unlike in other county departments, no personnel in environmental health positions will be laid off next year.

Higman said he doesn’t know how the public will react to the potential increase in service fees.

“Will it be palatable? We’ll just have to wait and see,” he said.