Fine-tuning next for Carson food-permit fee, inspection plans

Now that the city has received public input, some fine-tuning is expected in internal policies dealing with proposed ordinances regarding food-permit fees and inspections, according to a Carson City division manager.Dustin Boothe, head of the city Health and Human Services Division of Disease Prevention and Control, said nine representatives of food-service establishments in casinos and other places showed up at a meeting Thursday night. He said those at the meeting, held in the Bonanza Room at the city’s Community Center, mainly sought information and clarification.“It would just be fine-tuning,” he said, speaking of internal directives on how to impose the fees and inspect in specific circumstances if the ordinances are adopted.A final determination about whether to change the draft ordinances would be made before they’d be taken to the Board of Supervisors in early April, Boothe said.Fees in some cases would go up for casinos with multiple food areas, and in other establishments might go down, he said. Some casinos’ annual fees could increase more than threefold or fourfold.Casinos have been paying $300 annually.The changes would increase the city’s fee take from nearly $25,000 to about $37,000 a year, said Boothe, whose division budget is more than $200,000.Chamber Director Ronni Hannaman and representatives of the Carson Nugget and Gold Dust West casinos were on hand, along with those from some smaller establishments, Boothe said.An example of something needing clarification, he said, is under which circumstances his division will require both restaurant and catering fees, just for restaurants and just for catering firms.“A lot of it was just clarification,” Boothe said. “Nobody was there to attack us.”