At a Glance
- What: Proposed fees for town permits, reviews, and services
- Who pays: Applicants who use the services
- Review window: 60 days, starting April 16
- Final vote: June 17, 2026
- Takes effect: July 1, 2026
- Review and comment: santanvalley.gov
SAN TAN VALLEY, AZ — The San Tan Valley Town Council on Wednesday voted to direct staff to publicly post a proposed San Tan Valley fee schedule that will set the cost of permits, reviews, and other municipal services when the town takes over those services from Pinal County on July 1, 2026. Since incorporating, the town has relied on the county to deliver day-to-day services, and July 1 marks the shift to full municipal operation. The fee schedule is now posted, giving residents and developers at least 60 days to review the rates and submit comments through the town’s official website before the council takes a final vote.
What the San Tan Valley Fee Schedule Means for Residents
The proposed fees will apply to people who request specific services from the town. Covered categories include engineering and public works, government and administrative services, building safety and permitting, planning and zoning, parks and recreation, court costs and violation fees, and construction engineering certificate of quantities. Applicants pay for the services they use.
Town Manager Brent Billingsley described the purpose of the schedule. “Cost recovery for services provided, that’s essentially what it is,” he said. “It’s the cost of doing business.” The fees are designed to shift the cost of those services onto the people using them and reduce the town’s reliance on its general fund.
Vice Mayor Tyler Hudgins spoke to the financial rationale during the discussion. “This is part of our fiduciary responsibility to the taxpayers of this community to make sure that this organization is solvent,” he said. Billingsley called the schedule “critically important” to the town’s ability to grow.
Where the Money Goes
Billingsley told the council that fee revenue would pay for the salaries, benefits, vehicles, and other costs associated with delivering services. Without the fees, he said, the town could not hire inspectors, planners, or support personnel.
Billingsley told the council the town will not have the ability to perform all of those functions in-house on July 1. In the interim, he said the town will either contract with outside consultants, continue using Pinal County through intergovernmental agreements, or use a combination of the two. If San Tan Valley contracts the work out, the fees collected under the town’s schedule will be used to pay those contractors. If the town routes a service through Pinal County, the county’s existing fee study will apply until San Tan Valley takes that function in-house.
Billingsley also told the council the town’s financial systems are on track to be ready to collect fees and process payments on July 1. He said Finance Director Gabe Garcia and other staff have been setting up the town’s accounting, payroll, and benefits systems, and that the work is running ahead of the pace the software vendor typically sees for municipal implementations.
How the Fee Schedule Was Built
Staff built the schedule by benchmarking recently adopted fee schedules from other Arizona jurisdictions. Queen Creek served as the primary model because of its geographic proximity, similar development patterns, and recently updated 2025 fee schedule. In addition, staff drew on the City of Maricopa for additional fee data and planning and zoning fee details, and on the City of Chandler and Town of Gilbert for regional and statewide context.
Billingsley said the report may look familiar to some readers because Queen Creek and Maricopa used the same consultant for their fee studies. Staff also excluded categories the town does not yet offer, such as library services, and applied professional judgment where service scope or scale differed from peer cities.
The schedule can be revised over time. “We tried to anticipate those services that we will likely provide in the near future as a town, understanding that these fees can be updated at any time,” Billingsley said. For example, the draft includes fees for a parks and recreation department that does not yet exist.
How Building Permit Fees Are Calculated
According to the staff report, building permit fees will scale with the size and complexity of a project, so larger or more involved builds pay more to cover the additional review, inspections, and oversight they require. Fire and life safety fees, by contrast, are charged as flat rates in the standard schedule, as noted in the staff presentation.
To set those building permit fees, the town will use construction valuation data published by the International Code Council, a national standards organization, applied through a tiered fee table. “We’re relying on Queen Creek’s methodology with that ICC valuation,” said Robert Stanley, IT Director, during the presentation. Town Manager Brent Billingsley told the council that most Arizona jurisdictions use the same valuation approach.
Stanley told the council the method allows the town’s building official to refresh the fee tables when the ICC publishes new data without requiring a council vote each time. The staff report lists that flexibility as one of the reasons for adopting the ICC approach.
Timeline and How to Comment
The council’s vote triggered the public notice process required by Arizona Revised Statutes § 9-499.15. The proposed fee schedule and supporting report are now posted on the town’s website, starting the 60-day public notice period. Staff also posted the required Notice of Intent at the same time, though statute only requires it at least 15 days before the adoption vote. The documents are also available for review at the Town Clerk’s office during normal business hours.
Residents can submit written comments through the official comment form on the town’s website. Staff said that is the channel the town will use to collect formal feedback. Comments posted on social media or delivered informally will not be part of the official record.
The council is scheduled to hold a public hearing and consider final adoption at its June 17, 2026 meeting, which begins at 6:00 p.m. If adopted, the fees take effect July 1, 2026, when the town begins operating as an independent municipality and takes on services previously provided by Pinal County.
