Julie Brooks or Krista Quarles

This administrative regulation establishes fee amounts for reviewing construction plans and conducting construction inspections, annual fees for inspections of public swimming and bathing facilities including those with interactive water features, spray and splash pads or parks, and beaches, and fees for annual permitting of these facilities.

This administrative regulation is necessary to establish a schedule of fees to help support the local health departments (LHD) and the cabinet in administering a program for public and semipublic swimming and bathing facilities.

KRS 194A.050(2) authorizes the secretary to promulgate regulations to establish a fee schedule for permitting and annual inspection of efforts regarding compliance with program standards administered by the cabinet.

This administrative regulation will assist with addressing the cost to administer public swimming and bathing facility construction, permitting and inspection programs.

The amendment to this administrative regulation establishes a reasonable schedule of fees necessary to help support LHDs and the cabinet for the costs of reviewing construction plans and conducting construction inspections, annual fees for inspections of public swimming and bathing facilities including those interactive water features, spray and splash pads or parks, and beaches, and fees for annual permitting of these facilities. This change in the schedule of fees is consistent with the amount of time and effort expended by LHD and cabinet staff in conducting plan reviews and inspections based on the size and complexity of the establishment and the amount of time the establishment is open during the year that determines the number of inspections. The amended after comments version of this administrative regulation establishes a flat fee for interactive or inflatable water features, and clarifies the inspection fee for splash pads is applicable to all splash pads.

The amendment to this administrative regulation is necessary to offset the cost of administering this program.

KRS 194A.050(2) authorizes the secretary to promulgate regulations to establish a fee schedule for permitting and annual inspection of efforts regarding compliance with program standards administered by the cabinet.

The increase in inspection and permitting fees will help to offset the costs incurred by the cabinet and LHD when inspecting, reviewing construction plan, and permitting public and semipublic swimming and bathing facilities. This will ensure all public and semipublic swimming and bathing facilities are in full compliance with program standards.

There are currently 2,250 public swimming pools, bathing facilities, and spas, and thirty-three (33) beaches regulated by the department. The department receives approximately 115 requests for plan review each year.

The permitted swimming and bathing facilities will pay a set permitting fee based on the time required to administratively track and renew permits in the Environmental Health Management Information System (EHMIS) database. Fees for inspections are being increased since this regulation was last amended in 2001 to help recoup the cost borne by local health departments and the cabinet to administer this program based on current salary rates, time and effort expended dependent upon facility size and complexity and the number of months open throughout the year.

A reasonable schedule of permitting and inspection fees is established in this amendment which help LHDs and the cabinet partially recover the full cost of running these programs. These fees are based on current salary requirements, time and effort spent conducting inspections which is largely dependent on size and complexity and the number of months a facility is open during the year.

All swimming and bathing facilities are required to be inspected and permitted by the cabinet. The fees paid for inspection and permitting help to ensure swimming and bathing facilities are in compliance with state laws.

The only additional cost will be to pay Custom Data Processing to update the inspection fees in EHMIS and to create a new permitting fee in EHMIS.

There are no additional costs on a continuing basis.

Agency funds received from the fees continue to be used to implement and enforce this administrative regulation.

There is no increase in funding necessary for this regulation.

The amendment to this administrative regulation increases the fees associated with operating public or semipublic swimming pools and recreational beach facilities. The administrative costs to local health departments and the cabinet is approximately $150 per hour for local health department environmental health inspectors of swimming and bathing facilities. This cost includes the salary of the inspector, fiscal year 2018 Kentucky Employee Retirement System (KERS), Federal Insurance Contributions Act (FICA) contributions, and health and life insurance cost. The total costs across all local health departments and the state is approximately $2,376,885 per year. The size and complexity of the establishment as well as the number of months the facility is open during a year all have an impact on the time required to conduct an inspection as well as the number of inspections performed throughout the year. All public and semi-public swimming and bathing facilities require a minimum of two (2) full facility inspections and monthly monitoring inspections per year. Facilities open year round will have a total of twelve (12) inspections while seasonal facilities will have a total of five (5) inspections. The current fee structure for swimming pools is based on the total square footage of the water surface area and separated into two (2) categories of 1,000 feet or less and 1,001 feet or more. This fee structure does not take into account the complexity of the inspection required for larger swimming pools, nor does it account for interactive or specialized water features. The current fee structure for beaches is based on the linear square feet of the beachfront and is separated into two (2) categories of 149 feet or less and 150 feet or more. This does not account for the complexity of inspecting larger beach areas, nor does it account for interactive or inflatable water features. The proposed fee structure for swimming pools keeps the categories based on total square footage for water surface area but adds two (2) additional categories of 1,001 to 1,500 square feet and 1,501 to 2,000 square feet. Swimming pools 2,001 square feet and more will pay an additional fifty (50) dollars for each additional 500 square feet. The proposed fee structure for beaches adds one (1) additional category of 150 to 200 linear square feet. Beaches 201 or more linear square feet of beachfront will pay an additional fifty (50) for each additional 50 feet. The proposed amendment to the fee structure includes the following new fees: seventy-five (75) dollars for each interactive water feature, including inflatable water features; $150 for spas and hot tubs; $250 for splash pads operated by local governments; and $100 annual permit fee for all facilities.

Tiering is applied. The inspection of complex swimming and bathing facilities and the facilities open more than 5 months in a year (not seasonal) requires more time and attention to detail. These facilities will pay a larger annual inspection fee. All swimming and bathing facilities will pay the same annual permitting fee to cover the administrative cost of tracking these facilities in EHMIS and renewing permits.

This amendment impacts the Department for Public Health, Division of Public Health Protection and Safety, Environmental Management and Public Safety Branches, and all local health departments. Furthermore, those counties and municipalities that operate and maintain public swimming and bathing facilities will be impacted as will be the Kentucky Department of Parks which operates public swimming and bathing facilities including public beaches.

KRS 194A.050 and 211.180.

The change in fee structure will generate an estimated $286,450 in the first year. The new permit fee will generate an estimated $228,800 in the first year.

The change in fee structure will generate an estimated $286,450 in subsequent years. The annual permit fee will generate an estimated $228,800 in subsequent years.

The costs associated with administering the permitting and inspection program is $2,376,885.

There will be no change in program cost.