Minnesota Statutes, section 299M.07 and section 299M.08, and Minnesota Rules, part 7512.1100 require licensed fire protection contractors to obtain permits for all fire protection-related work. Minnesota Rules parts 7512.1100 and 7512.2800 specify who the authority having jurisdiction (AHJ) can be for fire protection systems:

• Municipalities can conduct the plan reviews and inspections.
• Municipalities can charge a permit fee for those services.
• Municipalities must provide for a competent plan review and inspection.
• Municipalities must demonstrate competency to the State Fire Marshal Division (SFMD) to receive delegated sprinkler plan review and inspection authority.
• In areas without delegated municipal sprinkler plan review and inspection authority, permits, plan reviews, and inspections are the responsibility of the SFMD.

Only one AHJ and permit authority is allowed by Minnesota Rules chapter 7512. If the SFMD has not delegated sprinkler plan review and inspection authority to a municipality, the municipality cannot charge a separate permit fee for the fire protection system.

In the case of a new building, the owner or general contractor should have obtained a building code permit and the municipality probably collected a building code permit fee for the entire project (including the cost for the fire protection system). This building permit fee is intended to cover incidental costs that the municipality may incur while conducting inspections as part of the construction project (such as rough-in inspections and final inspections).

In cases where the fire protection contractor requests additional inspections that incur additional costs for the municipality, the municipality has the right to collect fees to offset the actual cost of providing the inspections being requested (see Minnesota Rules, part 1300.0160, subpart 2). These, however, are inspection fees and cannot be called permit fees since only one permit can be required for a fire protection system installation.