The Lyon County Commission voted 2-1 to adopt a simplified inspection fee structure for lagoons and septic systems today.
The vote restores a $150 fee, charged for inspections and permits on real-estate transactions, that had been abolished last January. It also sets a $395 fee for inspections on new sanitation system construction and a $495 fee for alternative or experimental systems.
No fees will be charged on regular “cycle” inspections or if the owner needs to rebuild, repair or replace an existing system.
The one vote against the proposal came from County Chairman Marshall Miller.
“On cycle inspections, if they find a system that’s failed, they’re going to be doing as much work as they would on brand-new ground,” Miller said.
“There’s a lot of truth in what you say,” County Commissioner Bob Davis said. “But most of those failed systems probably just need to be cleaned out. A few may need to be repaired, but only a few.”
The changes will take place upon publication in The Gazette’s legal notices.
Sanitation codes have been a recurring issue for Lyon County for at least six years, when an effort to revise the codes got underway. An early attempt in 2002 drew 1,200 people and a lot of vocal opposition at a meeting in the Anderson Building.
At today’s meeting, county resident Gary Janssen said the fees and codes had created more fear than solutions. He called for a moratorium on any inspections or use of the code until the county could decide whether there was a pollution problem and whether there was a conflict of interest when the sanitation codes were created.
By going to a simple $150 one-time fee, he said, “You’re going to bring the county back together. It’s divided.”
Commissioner Bob Davis said that the codes were as much for preventing problems as addressing them.
“You’re right that we don’t have a water problem or a sanitation problem,” Commissioner Bob Davis told Janssen. “But we also don’t want to have one either.”