Steep hikes in fire code permits

Businesses now have one other set of drastically increased rates to deal with and these are associated with proposed amendments to the Fire Safety Code, with permits going up from $20 to $500 or from $20 to $10,000 or by up to 49,900 percent, for example.

Rep. Stanley Torres (Ind-Saipan) and the Saipan Chamber of Commerce described these proposed rate increases as “shocking,” “ridiculous,” and “draconian,” among other things.

At the same time, Torres pre-filed yesterday a bill that seeks to increase the permits mostly by only $10 as opposed to the new rate increases of $480 to $9,980 proposed by the Department of Public Safety’s Fire Division.

Torres also asked DPS Commissioner Ramon C. Mafnas in a letter yesterday not to adopt the proposed permit fee increases “until the Legislature has a chance to review and recommend modifications to the Commonwealth Fire Safety Code Act of 1998.”

“Moreover, I believe your ‘Citation of Statutory Authority’ is in error, and this fact should rescind your proposed changes,” Torres told Mafnas.

Douglas Brennan, president of the Saipan Chamber of Commerce, also earlier asked Gov. Benigno R. Fitial to withdraw and amend the new fire permit fees to truly reflect actual costs associated with “necessary, responsible and valuable fire inspections and permitting” for all CNMI commercial establishments.

The $20 annual permit for storing or handling aerosol products, for example, will go up to $500-a 2,400-percent increase from the 1999 rates based on DPS Fire’s proposed amendments. Amendments in 2005 didn’t reflect changes in the fee schedule.

The $20 permit to operate aircraft refueling vehicles will become $1,000.

Some $20 permits will go up to $5,000, while some $20 permits will go up to $10,000-an increase of 49,900 percent.

Even a $10 permit for putting up a Christmas tree will go up to $100.

“It’s shocking for small to large businesses to see all these increases. They are too much,” Torres told Saipan Tribune. “Now it’s more expensive to get a fire permit of $500 annually than to obtain a business license for $50 a year.”

Besides the $500 fire permit fee, there’s also a re-inspection fee of $500, on top of all other permits and fines.

The Chamber, the largest business organization in the CNMI, said that while they believe that fire code inspection and enforcement promotes fire safety, the new permit and inspection fees are “draconian, and above an acceptable range businesses should be charged at any time, let alone during this harsh economic recession.”

DPS Fire Division’s proposed amendments to the Fire Safety Code seek to update existing fire cords, standards and guidelines with the most current published editions.

Thomas Manglona, chief of the Department of Public Safety’s Commonwealth Fire Division, said it’s time that the CNMI update its fire code to be in line with national and international standards and change its rates to reflect increased operational costs.

Torres, in his House Bill 17-275, places the authority to raise fire permit fees and fines in the Legislature, which would also have the power to establish a new fee and fine schedule.

He said fire prevention and operations are important to the CNMI, and reasonable fees should be established to help the costs of adequate fire services in the CNMI.

Most of the annual permits and fees proposed by Torres’s HB 17-275 are $30. Some are $10 and $20.

Richard Pierce, executive director of the Saipan Chamber of Commerce, said yesterday that after initial review, it appears HB 17-275 “would certainly be a welcome alternative to the Jan. 30, 2012, adopted Fire Code fee schedule.”

“There appears to be no loss in fire safety issue inspection integrity, while the fee structure does not unduly burden commercial operations in the CNMI. SCC would support this legislation, especially considering the astronomically increased rate structure that was to take effect today,” he told Saipan Tribune.