A Belmont property owner wants the San Mateo Consolidated Fire Department to explain why his annual fire inspection bill nearly tripled in one year.

James Regan, who owns and lives in a three-unit residential property in Belmont, submitted a written challenge to the SMC Fire Board of Directors after the department charged him $882 for a 2026 inspection. Regan said the same category cost $305 in 2025, making the new charge a 189% increase.

That's the gap he wants the Board to justify.

Regan's challenge is included in the agenda packet for the Board's Wednesday, Sept. 16, meeting at 5:30 p.m. at 2121 S. El Camino Real, Building D, in San Mateo. It falls under public communications, not a formal action item, meaning the Board may but is not required to respond.

The fee and the math behind it

The department's 2026 Master Fee Schedule, effective Feb. 14, sets the inspection fee for buildings with three to four residential units at a minimum of $882. The fee is calculated using an estimated 2.25 labor hours at a fully burdened rate of $392 per hour.

Regan wrote in his Aug. 31 comment that the department's own NBS fee study acknowledges SMC Fire does not systematically track service time for individual fee-level services. The study instead relied on staff interviews and questionnaires to estimate labor hours.

He said he was home during the inspection, personally observed it and described it as brief. The resulting report found no violations and did not document the inspection's duration or staff time.

"SMC Fire has nearly tripled this fee based on an estimated labor assumption that it has not substantiated when directly asked, and the resulting charge is substantially higher than the comparable fees identified in its own study," Regan wrote.

How SMC Fire compares

Regan pointed to the department's own comparative analysis of five agencies. Their fees for similar small residential properties: $321 in Milpitas, $227 in Redwood City, $115 plus $14 per unit above three in South San Francisco, $28 per unit in Santa Clara and $507.21 annually for four to 50 units in Palo Alto.

All five fall well below SMC Fire's $882.

What Regan is asking

Regan asked the Board to direct staff to explain the factual basis for the 2.25-hour labor estimate, place the fee on a future agenda for public review, evaluate whether the $882 charge is reasonably supported and refund any portion that cannot be justified. He paid the invoice to avoid penalties.

He wrote that he is not challenging the need for annual inspections or fire prevention funding.

How the fee got here

The Board adopted the revised fee schedule on Dec. 16, 2025, on a 3-0 vote after NBS Senior Consultant Lauren Guido presented a fee study. No public comment was received on the item at that meeting. The schedule took effect Feb. 14.

At the May 20 Board meeting, Fire Chief Matt Turturici said the department was beginning to see positive results from the fee study and operational improvements, with the Fire Protection and Life Safety Fund's finances gradually improving. Deputy Chief Mackintosh reported at the March 18 Board meeting that the fund was projected to need General Fund transfers to stay balanced.

SMC Fire serves Belmont, Foster City and San Mateo. No public response from the department to Regan's specific challenge appears in available records.

The Board's Sept. 16 agenda also includes consent items to amend labor agreements with Local 2400 firefighters and battalion chiefs.