Chapter 01 — A number very few municipalities publish
The account, not just the fee.
An annual report required by Florida Statute 553.80
Florida Statute 553.80 requires a local government that charges building permit fees to produce an annual utilisation report, and the Village of Palm Springs publishes its own. In the Village’s words: "Pursuant to Florida Statute 553.80, by December 31st of each year, the governing body of a local government that provides a schedule of fees shall create a building permit and inspection utilization report."
What makes it worth reading is not that it exists but what is in it. For fiscal year 1 October 2024 to 30 September 2025 the Village published 2,142 applications submitted and 2,123 permits issued. It published 10,857 inspections requested and 10,857 inspections conducted — the same figure twice. And it published 102 inspections conducted by a private provider.
It also published the money. Revenue from permit fees of $1,251,673.68, against a carried-forward balance of ($154,868.82). The brackets are the Village’s. A negative carry-forward on a fee account is a municipality reporting that the function cost more than it collected, which is a genuinely unusual thing to find published on a building department page.
This page states those figures and stops there. It draws no conclusion about staffing, speed or efficiency, because arithmetic on published numbers is not a finding about performance — and because the Village is entitled to have its own figures read as it published them rather than as somebody else’s argument.

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Florida Statute 553.80, annually
A building permit and inspection utilisation report, published by 31 December each year by a local government that charges a schedule of fees. The Village publishes its own on its website.
10,857 requested, 10,857 conducted
For FY 2024-25 the Village published the same figure for inspections requested and inspections conducted, alongside 102 conducted by a private provider.
$1,251,673.68, and a negative carry-forward
Permit fee revenue for the year, with a carried-forward balance of ($154,868.82). The brackets are the Village’s own notation.





























