HomeMy WebLinkAboutApprove the Building Inspection Division Quarterly Report for the period ending June 30, 2011.pdfPage | 1
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Commission Memorandum
REPORT TO: Honorable Mayor and City Commission
FROM: Bob Risk, Chief Building Official
Jason Shrauger, Fire Chief
SUBJECT: Building Inspection 4th Quarter FY11 Update
April 1, 2011 – June 30, 2011
MEETING DATE: July 25, 2011
AGENDA ITEM TYPE: Consent
RECOMMENDATION: Accept this report detailing the financial and workload position of
the Building Inspection Division for the quarter ending June 30, 2011.
Note: Bold/Italicized/Underlined text also represents the FY11 year end number.
BACKGROUND: Because of the difficulties with estimating Building Inspection revenues
and workloads, we committed to make quarterly reports regarding revenues, staffing levels and
operating costs within the department.
The following sections represent the FY11 4th Quarter and the FY11 year end.
A. REVENUES: Our total revenue for the 4th quarter was $337,958.
Fourth Quarter Monthly Revenues
April $126,668
May $86,003
June $125,287
Average Monthly Revenues: $112,653
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B. EXPENDITURES: Our total expenditures for the 4th Quarter were $185,253.
Fourth Quarter Expenditures
April $64,627
May $66,533
June $54,093
Average Monthly Expenditures: $61,751
For Fiscal Year 2011, our total revenue amount equaled $1,010,512 and our total expenditure
amount equaled $727,452.
Building Division Revenue/Expenditure Comparison
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20,000
40,000
60,000
80,000
100,000
120,000
140,000
Revenues
Expenditures
C. CASH RESERVE: The Administrative rules of Montana allow the building division to
maintain a “cash reserve fund” derived from building permit fees provided that the reserve
amount does not exceed the building division operating costs for a 12 month period. Our
estimate of the building division operating costs for FY11 was $788,553.
At the beginning of the 4th quarter the Building Inspection Fund Cash Reserve was $675,953.
At the end of the 4th quarter our Cash Reserve balance was $818,676.
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At the beginning of the fiscal year the Building Inspection Fund Cash Reserve was
$543,091. At the end of the fiscal year the Cash Reserve Balance was $818,676 which is an
overall increase of $275,585 for the year. Our current Cash Reserve Fund balance
represents about 102% of our FY2012 budget request of 803,136.
D. PERMIT ACTIVITY: New Building Permits.
Permit Type 1st QTR 2nd QTR 3rd QTR 4th QTR Yearly Totals
Building 1618 887 341 923 3769
Electrical 148 147 103 177 575
Plumb/Mech 171 162 156 200 689
Fire Systems 8 9 9 13 39
Demolition 6 3 4 5 18
Total Permits 1951 1208 613 1318 5090
E. NEW BUILDING VALUATION: New Construction Only - Does not include tenant
improvements, remodels, re-roofs, etc.
Occupancy Type 1st QTR 2nd QTR 3rd QTR 4th QTR Yearly Totals
Commercial $3,974,605 $9,251,567 $12,134,156 $15,989,648 $41,349,976
Residential $9,032,053 $2,173,400 $5,654,458 $8,326,492 $25,186,423
Total $13,066,658 $11,424,967 $17,786,614 $24,316,140 $66,594,379
F. PLAN REVIEW: Completed Plan Reviews.
Permit Type 1st QTR 2nd QTR 3rd QTR 4th QTR Yearly Totals
Commercial 75 68 120 122 385
Residential 160 124 107 200 591
Total 235 192 227 322 976
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G. BUILDING INSPECTION: Completed Building Inspections;
Average Daily Inspections (per inspector) Standard 15
April 15.78
May 18.82
June 20.79
Average inspections per day for the quarter- 18.46
The total number of completed inspections for the 4th quarter was 3213
The total number of completed inspections for FY11 was 12,271
H. CODE COMPLIANCE:
Activity 1st QTR 2nd QTR 3rd QTR 4th QTR Yearly Totals
New Cases 16 21 16 12 65
Closed Cases 14 18 24 14 70
Ongoing Cases 7 16 13 13 13
Citizen Complaints 7 10 15 26 58
Stop Work Orders 53 34 26 27 140
Business License Inspections 54 113 161 281 609
Building Inspections 95 380 45 377 897
I. STAFFING: At this time, the Building Division staff consists of the Chief Building Official,
2 Plans Examiners, 3 Building Inspectors, 1 Code Compliance Officer, 1 Permit Coordinator,
and 1 Permit Technician. The COB Fire Chief currently serves as the Building Division
department head.
J. STATE OF THE DIVISION: The summer building season is upon us and we are seeing a
definite increase in construction activity over the past two years. This increase in permit
activity and subsequent cash flow has allowed the Building Division to remain solvent even
though our permit fees are still not adequate to cover our actual cost of doing business.
The housing market for new single family homes is good and new housing starts along with
increased commercial building activity is keeping staff extremely busy. To meet the current
workload, we’ve filled a vacant staff position by adding 1 FTE Building Permit Technician to
our team… we are also in the process of hiring a temporary full time building inspector to
help get us through the peak of our construction season.
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For the year ahead, maintaining an open line of communication between building division
staff, local contractors, homeowners, suppliers, design professionals and other city
departments remains a priority. In addition, we’ll be exploring the possibility of increasing
staff efficiency by making technological upgrades to our permit processing software and
hardware. We’ll also continue working with the Planning Department to improve and
streamline our permit issuance procedure and promote adoption of the International Property
Maintenance Code.
The Building Division is an active and participating member of the COB organization and
division staff participates in many COB committees and groups including, the new Economic
Development Committee, the Planning Design Review Committee, Insurance Committee,
Bargaining Committee, Montana State Chapter of the International Code Council, and the
Sustainability Committee.
Successes we enjoyed in FY11 included staff working to become familiar with the newly
adopted state building codes. In addition to learning the codes ourselves, staff also worked to
help our customers become familiar with the new codes. To this end, a number of ICC code
classes were sponsored by the Building Division. These classes were made available to
anyone in the community who had an interest. We found that training together with our
customers proved to be very helpful and definitely helped promote and improve our overall
communications.
Along with each New Year come new opportunities and challenges. The Building Department
staff is poised and standing by, ready to handle whatever 2012 has in store.
UNRESOLVED ISSUES: None.
ALTERNATIVES: As suggested by the City Commission.
FISCAL EFFECTS: Our monthly revenue for the 4th Quarter averaged $112,653 per month and
totaled $337,958 for the quarter. Our total revenue for FY11 was $1,010,512.
Our monthly expenditures for the 4th quarter averaged $61,751 per month and totaled $185,253
for the quarter. Our total expenditures for FY11 were $727,452.
The Building Division Reserve Fund balance at the end of the 4th Quarter was $818,676 which
equals approximately 102% of our FY12 budget request of $803,136.
Attachments: None
Report Compiled On: July 6, 2011