Seen a Rogue on the loose? Get in touch with our Roguemeister: JOHN SCHRAG jschrag@wweek.com (503) 243-2122 FAX: (503) 243-1115 We're well aware that there isn't enough money to go around for public services, but the Portland Fire Bureau's new practice of charging business owners a fee to inspect their property is going too far. Starting Aug. 1, with the unanimous approval of the City Council, the fire bureau instituted a fee structure for required inspections of commercial properties. Under the program, Portland business owners will pay around $65 for fire-code violation inspections. Owners will be charged additional fees for subsequent visits if the fire-code violations are not taken care of. This is above and beyond any fines. There are some protections written into the fee schedule--business owners receive a warning letter that lists common violations, and they can pay to take a class that will qualify them to file a self-inspection report--but it seems to us that code inspections are something that should be covered by the city and not paid for by another tax. It's one thing to charge businesses for reinspecting property that is out of compliance. But charging for initial inspections is akin to police charging to investigate crimes. For a city in reasonable fiscal health, this strikes us as an unnecessary ding. Portland would do better to follow the lead of Bend and Vancouver fire districts, which still believe that code inspections are an inherent piece of fire prevention     originally published September 23 , 1998