Tattoo and piercing businesses in El Paso County will probably pay two and three times more in fees for health inspections than before -and many of their owners are happy.

Earlier this summer the El Paso County Department of Health and Environment suspended inspections of body art businesses to help cut $507,000 from its ailing budget. Without inspections, business owners feared safety concerns would hurt business.

Under a new proposal reached by 27 local business representatives and health department officials Tuesday, the industry would take over all costs associated with performing inspections and enforcing regulations. The Board of Health, which oversees the health department, learned of the agreement at a work session Wednesday, and members appeared eager to approve it at a public hearing scheduled for October.

The health department's current fees are $50 to review a new tattoo parlor's business plan and $120 each year for inspections. Those fees would increase to $175 for new businesses' plans and $250 annually. Businesses would also pay $70 for follow-up inspections when the health department finds critical violations, and $70 for vendor permits in the case of special events such as a tattoo expo.Industry leaders also agreed to raise $8,874 to pay for indirect costs associated with the inspection program such as mileage,administrative time and utilities. State law prohibits health departments from using fees to cover indirect costs for body art businesses.

Rick Miklich, the county's director of environmental health, said tattoo artists discussed putting out jars, similar to tip jars, as a way to raise the additional money.

The body art inspection program was among several programs targeted for cuts or elimination. The budget reduction is the result of an estimated $9.1 million county shortfall due to rising costs and lower than expected revenue. Other health department cuts have included the elimination of meth lab inspections, a reduced disease investigation program, and the elimination of an educational program on suicide.

The Board of Health was scheduled to vote on indefinitely suspending body art business inspections and repealing its regulations of them at a meeting in July. Instead it decided to postpone such a vote and give the industry and health officials time to reach a compromise.

Miklich said the current proposal is the result, noting that people were practically pulling out their checkbooks during the discussion.
The board briefly discussed whether having the industry fully fund the program was in any way leaving the fox to guard the hen house, but members dismissed the idea given that the job itself will be performed and overseen by the department as it always has.
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