Health department fees to see increases

Citing increases in costs across the board, fees for services provided by the Putnam County Health Department are set to increase.

The Board of Health approved a request by the department to set the new fees at a meeting it held on Feb. 10.

The new fees for the department’s most common services are as follows, compared to their previous amounts:

• Permanent food establishments: $225 for 20 or more employees and $175 for less than 20 employees, up from $175 and $125, respectively;

• Pool permits: $100 if the pool is open for eight months or more and $50 if it is open for less than eight months, up from $55 and $35, respectively;

• Septic permits: $225, up from $125;

• Birth certificates: $15 per copy, up from $10;

• Death certificates: $20 per copy, up from $12;

• Notary services: $5 as a flat fee, up from $2;

• Tuberculin skin test: $20, up from $14.

Nonprofit organizations will still not be charged for food or pool permits.

The new fees are to be effective on March 1.

Preparedness Coordinator Brian Williams told the Banner Graphic that they were last raised in 2013, and that the department’s costs, along with expenditures in general, have bumped greatly since then.

“As with anything else in the past decade, costs have increased significantly to the department,” Williams said. “Thankfully, we were able to keep the price increases to a minimum. We unfortunately could not wait any longer to raise pricing for our services.”

Williams added that the department expects to keep the new pricings in place for the foreseeable future, but that dictates from state lawmakers and the Indiana Department of Health would affect this.