Grand Traverse County commissioners will consider several proposals by the county's soil erosions department to cut costs and increase revenues at a 6pm meeting tonight at the Governmental Center.

At the direction of commissioners earlier this month who wanted to see staff ideas for cutting the county's costs for soil erosion inspections, Director of Construction Code Bruce Remai put together three scenarios for consideration tonight. The first calls for increasing county permit and inspection fees to help cover general fund dollars being used to subsidize the department; the second calls for increasing fees and also restructuring staff hours to decrease by 180 hours December-February and increase by 180 hours April-October; and the third calls for increasing fees while both restructuring and increasing staff hours, a move that would still require $10,000 in general fund dollars but would help the department "effectively administer and ensure compliance with Part 91," the state act mandating soil erosion inspections.

Several local builders and developers - including Home Builders Association of the Grand Traverse Area President Bill Packer - have spoken at commission meetings in recent weeks to express support for raising permit and fee inspection rates if it would enable the county to keep soil erosion responsibilities in-house rather than outsourcing them. While the commission has not yet conducted a cost-savings analysis to determine if outsourcing would save the county money, Remai has posted an RFP to collect bids for consideration. He expects those proposals back by February 6.