When it comes to rebuilding her home, Altadena resident Wendy Hammond knows that moving every dollar available toward the cost of construction is so critical that it could determine whether she returns to a new home or sells her cleared property to a developer.

That’s why she’s asking that rebuilding fees paid to Los Angeles County — from $20,000 to $35,000 per house — get waived for those who lost homes in the Eaton fire, so that chunk of cash doesn’t get taken out of her insurance’s dwelling and rebuilding allotment bucket.

“I’m very concerned this is preventing many from rebuilding and moving forward,” said Hammond on Wednesday, May 28.

“The point I’m driving home is when people find out they have to pay these upfront (county) fees, people that are already battling insurance companies, it is a huge mountain to climb. So they are more likely to sell their plot of land,” she added.

Hammond and her neighbors who lost their homes in the Eaton fire of Jan. 7-Jan. 8 are in support of a proposal by L.A. County Supervisor Kathryn Barger, which would defer payment of rebuilding fees in the Altadena fire zone.

The motion says the county could get reimbursed through the property owners’ insurance. The motion also mentions waiving the fees if insurance doesn’t cover this expense, but it appears the county would need to find “a long-term funding plan” in order to make up the lost revenues for completely waiving fees for eligible owners, the motion stated.

The details of the proposal are not yet clear. Barger’s motion was introduced Tuesday, May 27, and is set to be heard at a future Board of Supervisors meeting. It contains strong language favoring deferring or waiving rebuilding fees.

“For families grappling with loss, displacement, and the slow grind of insurance claims, these fees represent an insurmountable barrier to returning home,” wrote Barger in her motion.

The county has made efforts to streamline often bureaucratic permitting processes, by moving toward self-certification of plans and using artificial intelligence to help applicants fill out forms and submit rebuilding plans. But Barger wrote this is not enough to expedite approved permits and start-up rebuilding in the devastated community.

“Yet even with these reforms, the process remains complex, time-sensitive, and, for many, cost-prohibitive. Homeowners emerging from temporary shelters or hotel rooms are asked to shoulder tens of thousands of dollars in fees simply to secure permission to rebuild on the land they once called home,” the motion stated.

Hammond and others in her east Altadena neighborhood spoke out in favor of the proposal at the Tuesday board meeting when Barger read the future motion into the record. However, they say Barger’s motion doesn’t go far enough and want the county to simply waive permitting fees, not defer them and possibly require owners to pay them at a later date.

“They should be waived,” said Bryn Burke, a resident of east Altadena whose home burned to the ground. Burke is penciling out the cost of rebuilding but fears her insurance won’t cover the whole cost.

“Every dollar we pay to the county for rebuilding fees is a dollar you lose for construction of our home,” she said on Thursday, May 29.

Burke and Hammond both said L.A. County should waive rebuilding fees. That is exactly what Los Angeles Mayor Karen Bass did in late April in an executive order, helping owners of 6,800 properties destroyed or damaged in the Palisades fire of Jan. 7.

“They did it for the Pacific Palisades residents. And we should be given the same,” Burke said.

But the waiving of fees in the city of L.A. to alleviate rebuilding costs for those Pacific Palisades residents whose homes were burned is not yet a done deal. It must be approved as an ordinance by the City Council.

For example, Cory Singer, a builder working to rebuild Alessandra and Walter Lopes’ home in the Palisades, said the owners paid $6,000 for permits to the city of L.A. before Bass’s executive order of April 25. He said they are expecting a refund.

However, the owners had to sign a waiver, saying the fees had been deferred and may be waived if the City Council ordinance is adopted. If not, then the city reserves the right to collect the fees from the property owner. An ordinance by City Councilmember Traci Park is pending.

Park’s ordinance calls for permits, plan check and other rebuilding fees to be waived to help residents recover. “They’ve been through enough, and they did not ask for this. So, waiving these fees is reflective of our commitment to helping them start over,” Park said in a statement last month. She did not return a phone call to her office on Thursday.

Both the city of L.A. and the county are under considerable budgetary pressures, so losing permit fee revenues could widen budget gaps. The city is grappling with a $1 billion budget deficit, while the county has approved trimming $1.3 billion and cutting 310 unfilled positions.

Hammond said the fees to rebuild her home is based on the market value of the home, which will be more than $1 million. Fees will cost between $20,000 and $35,000. And since the home was only 7 months old, the mortgage will be underwater, complicating her rebuild process, she said.

Having fees waived helps economically, but it also sends a positive signal to those struggling to afford rebuilding their homes and remain in Altadena.

“We need to make a concerted effort to foster hope in a demolished community,” said Hammond. “We need to see trucks coming in with lumber, and not just trucks leaving with the ashes of our lives.”

SCNG staff writers Sierra Van Der Brug and Teresa Liu contributed to this article.