FREQUENTLY ASKED QUESTIONS DEPOSIT-BASED FEES (DBF) 

BACKGROUND: The Riverside County Board of Supervisors has adopted ordinances to collect fees for the staff- related costs of reviewing applications for land development projects, road improvements, grading, and building permits. Certain applications are “Deposit-Based”, meaning that the initial deposit may be supplemented by additional fees, based upon actual labor costs. Deposit-based fees (DBF) were adopted in response to the building industry’s concern that some applications required more labor than others and that a DBF rate would reflect the project’s actual labor costs, compared to a potentially higher standard (flat) fee. 

HOW DBF WORKS: An applicant is required to deposit fees to initiate staff review of an application. County departments draw against these deposited funds at the staff's hourly rates adopted by the Board of Supervisors as part of the County Budget. Deposits are monitored, and when significantly depleted, the applicant is contacted for additional deposits (supplemental fees) to cover the estimated full cost of the project to completion. At the end of the project, any deposits that exceed actual costs by $100.00 or more are refunded to the applicant of record. The refund is accompanied by a billing statement that describes County labor hours expended on the application. 

DBF APPEALS: An applicant may appeal DBF costs by contacting the Transportation and Land Management Agency (TLMA) Director. The TLMA Director will, in writing, notify the appealing person of his/her decision. Subsequent appeals are available, should the applicant disagree with the TLMA Director’s decision. 

ESTIMATED PROJECT COSTS: Many application fee ordinances have not been updated since the early 1990’s. Therefore, it is typical that initial deposits may be insufficient to cover the full cost of processing your project. Please reference department fee schedules or contact the department you plan to submit to, as they will be able to give you an estimate of the final or total cost to process your application. It is the goal of the County staff to reduce costs wherever possible through streamlining efforts currently underway and through improved communication with the applicant so that applications can be processed efficiently and expeditiously.