A new fee schedule for planning and zoning reviews that’s designed to prevent Oxford Village from continuing to lose money was approved by council last week.

The big changes are a $200 increase for reviews conducted by the Oxford Fire Department and the addition of a $150 fee for applicants whose requests require a public hearing.

In a May 15 memo to council, Assistant Village Manager Drew Benson explained “this fee schedule does not raise rates for the majority of categories.”

“Rather, this fee schedule is intended to be more inclusive of the various costs that the village incurs through the development process,” he wrote.

For example, the fire department charges the village “a flat fee of $225 for each review that it does.”

“The previous fee schedule only charged applicants $25 for said reviews, and therefore the village has historically lost $200 per review,” Benson wrote.

Under the new schedule, applicants are charged the full $225.

As for public hearings, Benson explained “the previous fee schedule did not include any fees” for them, meaning that tax money was “being used to pay for” things such as the public notices published in the newspaper and the mailings that go out to every property within 300 feet of a proposed development or zoning change.

To cover those costs, the new fee schedule charges applicants $150 for public hearings.

Village attorney Bob Davis supported the new fees.

“You have an obligation – this is not a choice – you have an absolute obligation to recover your costs,” he told council.

Councilman Erik Dolan agreed.

“I’m of the same mind as Mr. Davis that the village has a responsibility to recover all costs,” he said.

“One way or another, any cost the village doesn’t recover (means) a taxpayer . . . is essentially subsidizing a private business. While we need to be business-friendly, I don’t think we need to be subsidizing businesses.”