Deschutes County Commissioners may make some housing in the county a bit less affordable to help ensure it has the money to do planning, code enforcement, building safety and more.

The Community Development Department will be before commissioners this week for a discussion about options for its budget. It is funded primarily through fees. The volume of applications is down. Perhaps in five years, its reserves will not cover its revenue decline.

The department is reducing staff and plans to eliminate more. The department has cut 14 full-time equivalent positions since the beginning of 2023.

County staff are scheduled to present commissioners with three options with different levels of fee increases. The biggest fee increase option would mean the cost of a dwelling permit for a 2,700- to 4,000-square-foot home would go up about 13%. For a 2,700-square-foot home, it would be an increase from $8,996 to $10,220.

What choice would you want commissioners to make? Cut more staff and service levels? Or jack up fees?

What’s not clear in the information packet provided for commissioners is what a cut in service level might mean.