New Dallas development fees kick in starting May 1

Dallas City Council approved a sweeping ordinance to update development fees related to permitting, engineering, inspections and other services starting May 1.

With the move, fees tied to the development services department are likely to tick up, though some will be lowered with the new measures.

It’s a move that will help the department begin to become self-sustaining in its operations by collecting more revenue, but has been met begrudgingly by the private sector which will shoulder costs set to double and triple in price for residential and commercial projects. Those higher costs will then be passed along to renters, shoppers and other end users, businesspeople say.

Fees in Dallas should be evaluated every three years and can be revisited more frequently as needed. The development fees in Dallas have not been increased since 2015 .

The higher fees will help subsidize a $20 million funding gap in the development services department’s budget that the city is having to fill.

Andrew Espinoza, director and chief building official of the development services department, said Wednesday the goal of the new fees is to get to “full, 100% cost recovery.”

Within that, he said his commitment is to identify workflow delays and bottlenecks. Espinoza said a focus on technology, talent retention and key performance indicators should help with that.

Dallas City Council member Chad West said he is going to eventually expect Espinoza to show the council the cost savings realized through those measures.

“Please hold me accountable to that,” replied Espinoza.

A fee study produced by an outside consultancy showed Dallas’ development services department only brings in enough revenue to cover 55% of its overall costs, which amount to $50 million, with the city covering the rest.

That led the development services department to reevaluate many of the fees.

Developers’ main issue with the raise wasn’t in fact that there was an increase, but it felt the department was making up for a decade’s worth of increases at once.

With the May 1 start date, the development services department should bring in an estimated $8.5 million in additional revenue this year.

Development services department staff at Wednesday’s city council meeting made it clear there will not be a grace period. Submissions made before May 1 are expected to be turned in in their entirety to be eligible for current fees, and applications cannot be used as placeholders to obtain current fees pricing.

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