The Pinal County Board of Supervisors heard a proposal on Feb. 11 to tie air quality permit fees to the Consumer Price Index (CPI), a federal measure of inflation. The change would apply annual increases to all stationary source permit fees starting Jan. 1, 2027. Under federal law, a stationary source is any building, structure, facility, or installation that emits or may emit air pollutants. In Pinal County, these range from gas stations to power plants.
Currently, only the largest pollution sources are subject to annual CPI adjustments. The proposed rule would extend that authority to all permitted facilities, regardless of size. It would also require the district to formally track what it charges and spends on smaller permit classes.
At a Glance
- Annual CPI-based fee adjustments would apply to all permit classes, not just Title V.
- Affected fees include annual fees and hourly processing rates across all classes.
- Emission-based fees, which apply only to Title V sources, would also be adjusted.
- A new rule would formally require the district to track what it charges and spends on Class II and Class III permits, as it already does for Title V.
- No new fees or fee categories are being created. The rule only changes how existing fees are updated.
- Increases are expected to range from 1% to 4% per year.
- The amended fee schedule would take effect Jan. 1, 2027.
- The Board of Supervisors is scheduled to vote on Feb. 18, 2026.
Permit Classes in Pinal County
The district issues three classes of air quality permits. Title V permits apply to major sources — facilities that emit or have the potential to emit 100 tons or more of any air pollutant per year. These include operations like power plants. Class II permits cover minor and synthetic minor sources, which are smaller facilities or those that accept permit limits to keep their emissions below the major source threshold. Class III permits apply to the smallest regulated operations. Across all three classes, the district permits roughly 400 facilities in Pinal County. Of those, 22 are Title V major sources.
Changes Affecting All Permit Classes
Under the proposed rule, existing permit fees would be multiplied each year by a CPI factor. According to Air Quality Planning Manager Rupesh Patel, these annual increases are expected to remain modest, typically between 1% and 4% depending on inflation.
All three classes pay annual fees and hourly permit processing rates. Previously, only Title V fees were adjusted annually for inflation. Under the proposed rule, the CPI adjustment would extend to Class II and Class III fees as well. The proposed revision to Section 3-7-585 of the Pinal County Air Quality Control District Code of Regulations removes the specific reference to Title V permits, extending the annual CPI adjustment authority to all air quality permits. A new Section 3-7-596 would require annual cost accounting for Class II and Class III permits — meaning the district would track how much it collects in fees and how much it spends administering those permits each year. Title V permits already have this requirement. The data would give the Board of Supervisors the information it needs to determine whether fees are covering actual program costs. Data collection would begin Jan. 1, 2027. Once finalized, the updated fee table will be posted on the county’s Industrial Permits Process webpage.
Title V Emission Fees and Monitoring
In addition to annual fees and processing rates, Title V sources pay an emission-based fee per ton of regulated pollutant. Class II and Class III sources do not pay this fee.
Supervisor Stephen Miller asked whether emission fees are charged annually or as a one-time cost. Patel confirmed they are billed annually. Title V facilities submit annual reports of their actual emissions, and each ton of regulated pollutant is billed at the current rate.
Miller spoke about the monitoring process. “That’s just one of the things that I do try to emphasize when there’s, particularly on the gas-generated facilities, to generate electricity — we are monitoring that. We do monitor it closely. The producer monitors it, and it’s regulated, and it does generate a revenue,” he said.
Air Quality Director Anu Jain offered a rough estimate of approximately $200,000 collected annually from those 22 major sources in emission and annual fees combined, noting she was not sure of the exact amount. She added that the department is entirely self-funded through its permitting revenue.
Fee Rules Unchanged Since 2010
Pinal County first adopted its fee structure for air quality permits in November 1993. At that time, the rules gave the control officer authority to adjust fees annually, but only for Title V permits — the largest pollution sources. Those rules were amended once, in October 2010. Supervisor Stephen Miller noted that some department fees may have been updated roughly four or five years ago, though he said he did not recall which ones.
Chairman Jeff McClure asked Patel about the gap between the 1993 adoption and the 2010 amendment. He confirmed that 17 years passed between the two. Then another 16 years passed before this latest proposal.
“You need to do it much more often than that, otherwise you scare everybody with the giant jumps,” McClure said.
Pinal County’s Fees Lowest Among Arizona Agencies
Patel presented a comparison of 2025–2026 hourly permit processing rates among neighboring agencies. Pinal County’s rate of $111.05 per hour is the lowest among the four agencies compared. The Arizona Department of Environmental Quality (ADEQ) charges $208.00 per hour. Maricopa County charges $194.40, and Pima County charges $164.80.
The same gap appears in emissions fees. Pinal charges $19.78 per ton of regulated pollutant, compared to $59.59 at ADEQ, $55.70 in Maricopa County, and $22.09 in Pima County.
Supervisor Rich Vitiello questioned whether the county’s fees are too low across the board. “It just seems like all of our fees, no matter where we are, seem to be pretty low,” he said, adding that the county appears to be at the bottom across multiple fee categories, including building permits.
Patel said the rulemaking is not intended to match other jurisdictions dollar for dollar. Instead, it is meant to ensure the county has the resources to provide timely and efficient permit services.
No Public Comments Received
The district opened a 30-day public comment period on Nov. 27, 2025. It closed on Dec. 30, 2025. During that window, notice was distributed by email to all permittees and posted on the county’s rulemaking website. Announcements also appeared in the Pinal Central Dispatch and Casa Grande Dispatch newspapers.
Additionally, the district held an online stakeholder meeting on Dec. 8, 2025, and an oral proceeding and public hearing on Dec. 30, 2025. The Dec. 30 event was available both online and in person.
Patel told the board the district received no public comments on the proposed rulemaking.
Board Vote Scheduled for Feb. 18
The work session on Feb. 11 was informational only. No vote was taken. The proposed resolution is scheduled for a public hearing and adoption vote at the Board of Supervisors regular meeting on Feb. 18, 2026, at 9:30 a.m. That meeting will take place at the Pinal County Board of Supervisors Hearing Room, 135 N. Pinal Street, Florence. It will also be available online.
If approved, the amended fee schedule would take effect Jan. 1, 2027. Residents and stakeholders can follow rulemaking updates on the county’s rulemaking page at pinal.gov/403/Rulemaking.
