Members of the Seattle Farmers Market Association (organizers of the Ballard, Madrona and Wallingford farmers markets) and a number of locals will come together to oppose proposed Famers Market permit fee increases at today’s King County Board of Health Meeting. The meeting is set for 1:30 p.m. and will be held at the King County Courthouse downtown (10th Floor, 516 3rd Ave).
The Seattle Farmers Market Association, and other similar organizations around the city, are opposing the fee increase which would raise many of the permit fees that both Farmers Market vendors and coordinators pay by as much as 42%.
Click on the table below to check out the detailed list of the proposed monetary and percentage increases:
As seen in the above table, the proposed fee increases will affect both market organizers and individual vendors themselves. Costs for market coordinators will rise from $502 to $1,162 and individual vendor costs will rise from $281 to $400 per market.
The Seattle Farmers Market Association is expressing concern about the impact that the fee increases will have on the diversity of vendors and, therefore, the appeal of the markets for customers.
The proposed increase for 2015 was submitted by the Department of Environmental Health Services (EHS) at Public Health – Seattle and King County to the Board of Health back in September this year.
According to the King County Health Services website, the fees have not changed since 2012 and they no longer cover the cost of providing the regulatory and educational services that “protect the public’s health.”
The EHS is required by the King County Council and Executive to cover the costs of their program through permit fees, and therefore, have proposed these fee increases.
The Board of Health is currently determining what the new fees will be through the use of the following determination: fee = hourly rate x time. The hourly rate refers to the cost per hour for doing plan reviews, inspections, processing permit applications in addition to supervision and department and county overhead. Time references the time each activity takes for each permit category which EHS tracks in actual time spent. “For some permit categories, the proposed fees are much higher for this reason,” writes EHS on the King County Health Services website.
These proposed fee increases do not sit well with the organizers of Ballard Farmers Markets who have expressed their opinion on their Facebook page multiple times over the past day.
“It is WRONG to charge farmers markets the HIGHEST health permit fees in King County when there has never been a documented case of food-borne illness from a King County farmers market,” write Ballard Farmers Market organizers.
The Ballard Farmers Market team also posted the following status on their Facebook page yesterday:
The proposed increases will be discussed at today’s meeting and then adopted by the Board of Health between January – March next year. The public will receive a 30-day notice of any fee increases and they will be implemented in April 2015.
Members of the public are welcome to attend today’s meeting and express their opinion on the matter.
If you are unable to attend, you can give feedback on the King County Public Health website, email ehs.fees@kingcounty.gov or call (206) 263-9838.
