Fees need to be raised significantly. It affects many areas of the program.

• defray expenses of administering the program
• discourage "trial runs" of hot dog carts which inevitably close down shortly after opening.
• time spent on these outweighs benefits to community
• also discourages endeavors operating on a shoe string that regularly fail
• the fees need to reflect the seriousness of food safety (40.00 is a joke)
• surrounding states have vastly higher fees for all restaurants, mobile units, temp vendors.
• current fee structure doesn't even cover intake paperwork let alone 2-3 or even more inspections per year.
• Food program is essentially being subsidized by taxpayers rather than the restaurant/food industry.
• Restaurant lobbyists should not be listened to except in a limited sense.

This review of Virgina's public safety and inspection programs was opened to public comment on June 6 and closed on July 13.   The stakeholders were not informed of this deadline until a conference call on July 10. 

We note the notice states that one objective is " collaborate to develop a long term plan to qdequately find the food safety and restaurant inspection program"   

We belive that this sentance reflects the heart of the issue.  Are the programs adequately funded? Who has determined that this issue needs a long term fix?  Does that not create a self fulfiling outcome? 

We would recommend a report to the General Assembly that this issue requires a more delibertative approach than described in item 94 and that the response time frame as set by the department is not adequate.  We would suggest an interim report to the Assembly in 2018.