The Importance of Entering Actual Submitted Job Value

We’ve recently received some customer calls inquiring about why the permit valuation in Accela does not match what they indicated on their application.  Recorded valuation is used on a majority of Building Reports and often shared with the local Tax Assessor who then reviews this information to determine whether a new appraisal is needed to re-evaluate property taxes.  And where valuation is used to calculate permit fees, it’s important to note that Accela will impose your minimum structural permit fee regardless of the valuation entered and will otherwise accurately calculate the exact permit fee as per your permit fee table.  Example, your minimum structural permit fee is $85 for valuation range $1 - $2000 – you do not need to input a job value of $2000 to make sure you get your minimum structural permit fee – you could enter only the $500 submitted job valuation and the system will still impose your minimum structural permit fee of $85.  Any dollar valuation in that first range and/or up to the calculation that meets your minimum permit fee will be imposed by Accela automatically – so you do not need to adjust the submitted job value to make sure your minimum permit fee is assessed.  The customer in our example was contacted for a possible appraisal but they had in fact not done an improvement valued at $2000 so they had to request a copy of their application from the agency and a copy of their contract with the licensed professional to show the lower valuation/improvement value.

If you have any questions about permit fee calculations, use of Contractor or Calculator Valuation, please submit a helpdesk ticket to [email protected] for assistance.