The town of Fairfield increased its annual fire safety inspection fee for apartments and multi-family homes in January. The inspection fees increased from $100 per building to $40 per unit, according to Fairfield Fire Marshall John Cronin.
The new system has generated more than $19, 000 for the town so far this year. That’s more than triple the $5,700 the old system brought in last year, according to town records.
The inspection process aims to make sure large corporations and out of state landlords are contributing enough to the town, according to Cronin.
“The small independent owners of like three family houses were paying the same $100 fee that someone who owned a 100 unit apartment building is, and we kind of felt that the little guy was paying more than his fair share and the big guy wasn't paying his,” Cronin said.
The money goes into Fairfield's general fund, which in turn supports the local fire department and its four fire marshals.
The increased fees are necessary, due to the fact many safety inspections at larger apartment buildings require more resources, Cronin said.
“When we find violations, we don't cite code for memory, so when we find things that are wrong, we're back in the office,” Cronin said. “We're searching the code books. We're making sure that our reports cite the violation. We're sending that report, and then we're going back on follow-ups.”
Cronin acknowledged the increase in fees may trickle down to result in an increase in rent for tenants.
“That's certainly a possibility, and it is up to the owner,” Cronin said. “I would imagine more of the condo associations are increasing their condominium fees to include this per unit. Unfortunately, that's something that's out of our control.”
Connecticut does not have a universal system for fire safety inspection fees, but Cronin doesn’t believe it’s needed.
“I don't know that the one size fits all approach is proper,” Cronin said. “I mean, there's small communities that don't have multi families, that don't have apartment buildings, or they have one or two, and their inspection load is not a problem.”
Neighboring communities, like Bridgeport, are taking notice of Fairfield's new approach to the fire inspection fee system, particularly as it pertains to the inspection of dorm rooms, Cronin said. Dorm inspections cost about $1 per bedroom.
“With a dorm room, we don't spend a lot of time inspecting in the room itself, it's mostly public spaces, utilities, and systems that we're inspecting,” Cronin said. “When we're in a multifamily, we have to go everywhere, from basement to attic to apartment to closets, and basically look at everything, so we spend a lot more time in a multifamily than we do in a dorm room.”
Fairfield Fire Commissioner Christopher DeWitt said in a recent Commission meeting the town still doesn’t charge enough for inspections.
The inspections present a strong source of revenue and the town could take advantage of the option by hiring more marshals, DeWitt said.
“The numbers are significant,” DeWitt said. “I look at this as a broader issue of our elected officials reluctant to hiring fire marshals for some unknown reason. These guys generate revenue, why aren’t we hiring more guys?”
