Newly enacted registration and fee requirements for contractors entering the Broken Top community on Bend’s west side have irked some construction and community leaders, who say they could drive up costs for doing business and set a precedent for other gated communities to follow.

Some private communities have already enacted annual contractor fees, including Sunriver Resort and Black Butte Ranch. They also require contractors to prove that they are state licensed, bonded and insured before they are allowed to enter.

Advocates for the new fees say that charging construction-related businesses pays for some of the costs of growth in their communities.

Broken Top’s new regulations, implemented Jan. 15, require anyone with a Construction Contractors Board license to pay a yearly fee to register their vehicles for entrance into the community.

The requirements force contractors and subcontractors, including plumbers, electricians and landscape installers, to pay the annual fee. General maintenance and service-oriented businesses, including child care providers, home health care providers, cleaning staff and delivery companies, would not be required to register.

”The fees are intended to cover a small portion of the costs associated with manning the front gate, road maintenance and the administrative costs associated with continual construction traffic,” Jim Jorgensen, general manager of the Broken Top community said in an e-mail.

Companies with one to three vehicles would pay $75. Those with four or more vehicles would be charged $125, Jorgensen wrote.

About $5,000 to $6,000 could be generated from the contractors’ fees, Jorgensen wrote, noting between 50 and 70 contractors work on an annual basis in the community.

So far, 25 contractors have signed up in the $75 category and 15 have signed up in the $125 category, according to Jorgensen.

At least one business owner complained that the new fees unfairly taxed business owners trying to do their job.

”It’s just another way of indirectly penalizing a subcontractor who performs work at a subdivision,” said Gary Phillips, owner of Portland-based Gary’s Vacuflo. ”It’s a tax in my mind that would eventually be passed on to the consumer.”

The city of Bend already imposes a $50 fee on for-profit businesses that conduct business within city limits.

Additional fees, if enacted by other gated communities, would add up, said John Hummel, a Bend city councilor.

”It’s ridiculous,” Hummel said. ”People have a right to freely travel to conduct business. Pretty soon, contractors are going to be paying $1,000 per year and buried in paperwork,” he said.

Tim Knopp, executive vice president of Central Oregon Builders Association, said he’s been contacted by several members complaining about the new fees.

”We’re reviewing the issue,” Knopp said. ”We want to prevent overzealous policies in communities from being implemented because it prevents our members from doing their trade.”

Some contractors thought the fees were not a big deal.

Custom-home builder Mike Dasen, owner of Bend-based Spring River Builders LLC, said that similar fees at Sunriver Resort have protected legitimate contractors and homeowners from shady business practitioners.

”I don’t look at it negatively,” Dasen said. ”If we’re building $1 million homes, what’s 75 bucks?”

Joe Davies, general manager of Springtime Landscape and Irrigation, said he was surprised that Broken Top had not implemented the fees sooner.

”Private communities need to recoup their road costs that are caused by construction,” Davies said. ”Personally, I don’t have an issue with it.”

Required fees and registration

Black Butte Resort: Registration required, $25 per vehicle annual fee

Brasada Ranch: Registration required, no fee

Broken Top: Registration required, $75-$125 annual fee

Eagle Crest Resort: Registration required, no fee

Pronghorn Resort: Registration required, no fee

Sunriver Resort: Registration required, annual $75 fee