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Subject: [PACHESTE] cost of birth certificates
Date: Wed, 5 Mar 2003 14:20:14 EST

State to raise service fees

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By Robert B. Swift
The Daily Item
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HARRISBURG - The cost of purchasing a copy of your birth certificate from the
state will double from $4 to $8 if Gov. Ed Rendell's budget plan is passed
intact.
Same for a copy of a death certificate. That fee will go from $3 to $6.50
under the proposal.

This is the first proposed fee increase for obtaining "vital statistics"
information from the state Health Department since 1980. Officials estimate
it would generate an estimated $3.7 million in new state revenues

Rendell is proposing a half-dozen state fee and license increases as a way of
generating a total of $29 million in new revenue to help close the state
budget deficit.

Most of these increases will affect specific categories of individuals who do
business with or are licensed by the state.

The vital statistics fee is the one people are most likely to encounter. The
most common reason for getting a copy of a birth certificate is to have
documentation for traveling out of the country.

Other proposed increases are:


a.. Owners' license for renewing or getting a duplicate copy of eating and
drinking license from state Agriculture Department, no license schedule
available.

a.. Insurance agents licenses, no license schedule available.

a.. Fee for valuation of insurance policies, no fee schedule available.

a.. Approval of building plan fees. Varies with cost of examination.

a.. Boiler and elevator inspection fees for buildings. No fee schedule
available.

a.. Securities agent filing fees, no fee schedule available.
Administration officials said they targeted fees and licenses that hadn't
been increased for a number of years. But they point out that the fee
increases will only make a small dent in erasing the deficit.

"It doesn't contribute a lot (of revenue) compared to the magnitude of the
problem," said Rendell budget secretary Michael Masch.

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