Marietta City Council’s Finance Committee discussed increasing, in some cases doubling, certain permit fees Monday.

Safety Service Director Steven Wetz introduced the idea of increasing by as much as 50% certain city permit fees.

“Recently I’ve been delving into the ordinances dealing with all out permits,” he said.

The ordinances have not been updated in 30 years, he said, and he spoke with Mayor Joshua Schlicher about them and and Wetz said he is suggesting doubling the street closure permit fee from $25 to $50 and charging it per instance of needing the street closed; doubling the fee for an application for a parade permit from $25 to $50 and if law enforcement is needed for the parade the requestor will have to contact the police department about it; increasing the fee for holding an event on the Marietta Armory lawn from $25 to $50 for up to three hours and $75 for over three hours; and increasing the application fee for a street fair, festival or park event, which would include events like the Sternwheel Festival. Wetz did not say how much the street fair fee would be increased.

He said the reason for wanting the fees to increase was to recoup some of the city’s expenses associated with providing services associated with the permits.

At-Large Councilman Jon Grimm asked if the fees would be refundable if a permit application was denied and Wetz said he would be willing to do that.

Wetz did not say when legislation related to the fee increases would be introduced and then the conversation turned to discussion of legislation that will be introduced at Thursday’s council meeting.