Fees for Health Department food licenses in Mahoning go up and down in 2012

Fees for Health Department food licenses in Mahoning go up and down in 2012

By PETER H. MILLIKEN

milliken@vindy.com

AUSTINTOWN

The Mahoning County District Board of Health has reduced its annual licensing fees for commercial and retail food operations, but it has raised them for vending machine, mobile and temporary-event operations.

The board recently approved fees ranging from $176.90 to $905.40 for 2012 for commercial and retail food operations, depending on their size and risk classification. For 2011, the range was from $188.50 to $905.50.

High-volume food preparation operations, such as hospitals and nursing homes, and caterers that prepare food for off-site consumption are in higher risk classifications with higher license fees to pay for more frequent inspections (up to three times a year), said Health Commissioner Matthew Stefanak.

A lower -risk classification applies to those selling only low volumes of packaged foods.

The commercial and retail food operations fees dropped because of reduced inspection costs due to health board personnel changes, including the recent hiring of a new, lower-paid inspector, Stefanak said.

Fees rose from $13.50 to $13.70 for vending machine operations, from $92.75 to $114 for mobile operations, and from $65.25 to $76 for temporary event operations.

“We increased the mobile operations fee to cover our cost of stepped up inspections of these vendors at locations like festivals and the Canfield Fair,” Stefanak said.

Read the full story Monday in The Vindicator and on Vindy.com.