ASSEMBLY, No. 863

STATE OF NEW JERSEY

Introduced Pending Technical Review by Legislative Counsel

PRE-FILED FOR INTRODUCTION IN THE 1996 SESSION

By Assemblymen MALONE and COTTRELL

An Act concerning the payment of municipal building permit fees by counties, municipalities and other local government agencies, and amending P.L.1985, c.409.

    Be It Enacted by the Senate and General Assembly of the State of New Jersey:

    1. Section 1 of P.L.1985, c.409 (C.52:27D-126c) is amended to read as follows:

    1. No county, municipality, or any agency or instrumentality thereof shall be required to pay any municipal fee or charge in order to secure a construction permit for the erection or alteration of any public building or part thereof from the municipality wherein the building may be located, but shall be required to reimburse the municipality wherein the building is located for any fees required to be paid by that municipality for inspection or plan review services of an approved private agency pursuant to section 6 of P.L.1975, c.217 (C.52:27D-124). No erection or alteration of any public building or part thereof by a county, municipality, school board, or any agency or instrumentality thereof shall be subject to any fee, including any surcharge or training fee, imposed by any department or agency of State government pursuant to any law, or rule or regulation, except that nothing contained in this section shall be interpreted as preventing the imposition of a fee upon a board of education by either the Department of Education for plan review or by a municipality for the review of plans submitted to it pursuant to the provisions of section 12 of P.L.1975, c.217 (C.52:27D-130).

(cf: P.L.1990, c.23, s.4)

    2. This act shall take effect immediately.

STATEMENT

    P.L.1985, c.409 exempted counties, municipalities and their agencies and instrumentalities from paying "any municipal fee or charge" for building permits and inspections in the municipality in which their public buildings are constructed or altered.

    This has created a significant burden upon municipalities that employ private agencies to perform plan review and inspection services. Such agencies are approved for the purpose by the Department of Community Affairs (DCA), and their fees are uniform, fixed and mandatory. A municipality must pay these fees, and the present law denies it reimbursement from another local governmental agency that erects a building within its jurisdiction.

    This bill would entitle a municipality to such reimbursement for the private-agency inspection fees that it must pay.

Provides for reimbursement to municipality for permit fees paid to private inspection agencies.