What the city requires, what it costs, and which office to call. Figures are from Moberly’s own fee schedule, last revised December 2025.
Everything below is City Hall, 101 West Reed Street, 660-269-8705 plus the extension, Monday to Friday 8 a.m. to 5 p.m.
Moving in: the inspection that catches everyone
An occupancy inspection is required before the city will turn your water on. Not after. Before.
Schedule it with the Utilities Department at ext. 2048. It costs $45 for a single-family home. The first re-inspection is free; each one after that is $25. Occupying a dwelling without a valid inspection is a $100 penalty.
Water deposits: none if you own the home. Renters pay $125. Sewer-only accounts are $250 whether you own or rent.
If you are 65 or older or permanently disabled, the city discounts water, sewer and trash by 25 percent, up to $13 a month. You have to apply — it is not automatic, and the city does not advertise it. Ask at the water office.
Late payment is 20 percent of the delinquent water, sewer and trash total. Full billing cycle details are in our Utilities folder.
Building permits
Building Official Donald Hendrickson, ext. 2042. Building Inspector David Moran, ext. 2043.
Building permit — $2 per $1,000 of value. Same rate for new residential, remodels, new commercial and commercial remodels. A deck is the same formula.
Fence — $20. Flat.
Re-roofing — $20. Flat.
Heating or cooling — $20 per appliance.
Plumbing — $5 per fixture, $20 minimum. Lateral repair $20.
Electrical — $20 minimum. Up to 200 amp $30; over 200 amp is 20 cents an amp. Circuits $3 each. Temporary service pole $15.
Solar — $2 per kilowatt.
Demolition — $25 residential, $50 commercial.
Signs — $20 minimum, $100 maximum; permanent signs $2 a square foot. Temporary portable and real estate signs are free up to 32 square feet.
Worth knowing: once installed, major appliances including water heaters and furnaces must be inspected — replacements too, not just new construction. People miss this on a swap-out.
Land disturbance is the expensive one: $250 base plus $25 per disturbed acre. Starting work without that permit costs three times the permit fee, minimum $750.
The city works from the 2021 international building, residential, property maintenance, fuel gas, mechanical, existing building, plumbing and fire codes, plus the 2020 National Electrical Code.
Zoning and planning
Variance — $100
Rezoning — $150
Conditional use — $150
Lot split — $100
Site plan approval — $150
Plat approval — $500
Home occupation permit — no fee
The Planning & Zoning application itself is free, but a P&Z meeting costs $150.
Business
Business license — $35 a year inside the city limits. All contractors — $35 a year. Renew late and it is $10 a month, capped at $35. Certificate of competency $10.
Commercial occupancy permits are free. Taxicab certificates and driver permits are free. Remember the county also requires a $25 merchant’s license per location — see our county directory.
Odds and ends people actually ask about
Golf carts on city streets — legal with a $15 special use permit plus $15 registration, and proof of insurance.
Backyard chickens — the city issues a chicken permit; the 2026 form is on its website. The requirements and fee are on a scanned form we could not read, so call Community Development at ext. 2044.
Burn permit — $10 each. And call dispatch at 660-263-0346 before you light it: they want your name, the address, what and how much you are burning, and a number that reaches you while you are outside. Call again when it is out.
Commercial fireworks display — $50 permit plus a $1,000 bond.
Dishonored check — $20. Photocopies 10 cents a page, faxes $1 a page.
Snow: what the city does and what you must
Clearing the sidewalk next to your property is required by ordinance. The city plows designated trails and sends a small blade downtown, but finishing the sidewalk is on the owner.
Do not park on a snow route when a storm is coming. They are signed. Vehicles left there may be towed at your expense.
One pass down every city street takes crews about five hours. The city does not plow Highway 63, Business 63, Highway 24, Routes DD, EE, JJ and M, the outer roads, or private drives — those are MoDOT or private. Alleys are last, and only a few where there is no alternative parking.
For scale: the city keeps about 500 tons of salt, a single November storm can burn 150 tons of it, and restocking takes two months. One recent storm cost roughly $33,050 and 80 to 90 crew hours.
Trash, yard waste and getting rid of things
Yard Waste Drop-off — 2300 N. Morley Street · 660-269-7638. Free. Leaves and grass — empty the bags and take them with you — and tree limbs under six inches around. Uncontaminated used motor oil is free too. No trash, no lumber.
Free wood chips and composted leaves for self-service pickup. For a truck load, call before 7 a.m. or between 2:30 and 3 p.m.
There is a yard waste ordinance, and complying with it is simple: turn your mower discharge away from the street. That is the whole requirement. It exists to keep clippings out of the storm drains.
Transfer Station — 101 Martin Lane
660-308-0506 or 800-778-7652. Credit card only. Hard hat and safety vest required on site — you can buy them there, $12 and $4.
Moberly residents: $65.70 a ton, $40.93 minimum. Non-residents: $92.55 a ton plus waste water and energy fees, working out to roughly $170 minimum a load. There is a 1.5-ton minimum.
Commercial customers and contractors pay non-resident rates even if the business is in Moberly. Untarped loads add $25. Appliances $10, or $25 if they contain Freon.
Hours change by season: May through August, weekdays 8 to 3 and Saturday 8 to noon. September through November and March through April, the first Saturday of the month only. Closed Saturdays December through February.
Not accepted: shingles (those go to Maple Hill Landfill), batteries of any kind, vehicle parts, major appliances, tires unless shredded, waste oil, yard waste, medical waste, liquids, dead animals, septic waste, asbestos, explosives.
Tires and electronics
Tires: passenger or light truck up to 16 inches $3, over 16 inches $3.25, large truck $8, bobcat or forklift $7.50, front farm $6, implement $7, super single truck $16, rear farm $35, large agricultural like a combine or sprayer $60. With the wheel still on: passenger $13, farm $46, floater $70.
Electronics: monitors and microwaves $5, floor copiers $25, televisions $25 up to 27 inches and $30 above.
Complaints and code enforcement
Report through the city’s online request tracker, which routes by category: dogs at large, feral cats, odor, tall grass and weeds, general code violations, potholes, street lights out, trash and bulk pickup, water billing or shut-off, water and sewer leaks, stormwater and construction site runoff.
Code enforcement, ext. 2043, handles safety hazards, debris, unlicensed and abandoned vehicles and deteriorated structures.
Nuisance fines escalate fast, and these include court costs: first violation $200, second $250, third $350, fourth and beyond $450.
If you do not abate after notice, the city can do it and place a lien on the property — billed at $75 an hour per employee plus equipment at rental rate and materials, or a contractor’s full rate. Dangerous building costs become a special tax bill against the property.
Animals
Moberly Animal Shelter — 153 W. Outer Road · 660-833-7330. After hours, for a severely injured or aggressive animal, call 660-263-0346.
Adoption is $275 and covers spay or neuter, heartworm test, fecal test, deworming, all required vaccines, monthly preventatives and a microchip. Dogs from the Puppies for Parole program cost the same and arrive trained.
If your dog is picked up: $30 to start, $10 a day, plus $15 for a parvo shot if it is under six months. Bring a rabies certificate and photo ID; cash or check. Dogs are not released without payment in full, and you will be cited for dog at large. If the rabies vaccination is not current you have ten days to get it done and bring proof, or a second citation follows.
Lost a pet after hours? Email a photo to moberlymoanimalshelter@gmail.com.
Oakland Cemetery
601 E. Rollins Street · Sexton Mike Lagle, 660-998-0132 · weekdays 7 a.m. to 3:30 p.m., closed 12 to 12:30. Lot inquiries go to the City Clerk, 660-269-7653.
Lots are $500 per burial space, sold as whole lots. Infant spaces in Baby Land are $25. A headstone installation permit is $30.
Opening fees, weekday / weekend / holiday: standard grave $575 / $700 / $700; urn $175 / $200 / $225; infant grave $225 / $250 / $275. No opening fee for an urn placed at the same time as a monument.
Two programs worth knowing about
My Maintenance Program. The city is split into ten zones, each with an assigned crew member who drives that neighbourhood once a month looking for weeds in the right-of-way, graffiti and broken signs. Zone maps are posted on the city site. You can report into it through the request tracker.
Infill Development. A 2018 housing study found Moberly needed at least 400 new housing units in ten years — about 40 a year — while the market was producing fewer than 20. So the city clears dilapidated structures, takes the lots through tax liens and foreclosure, and hands them to builders.
You need a current city contractor’s licence, residential building experience and a compliant proposal. A $1,000 refundable deposit is due at signing, before permits issue, and comes back in full on completion. You get six months to submit plans and file for the permit, and six more to build. Miss it and the agreement terminates and the deposit is forfeit. Lots nobody bids on go first come, first served, and the list is updated at the end of January, April, July and October. Community Development, 660-263-4420.
Working for the city
Openings are posted at the city’s jobs page and most run open until filled. Applications come from the Personnel office at City Hall and go back there with an equal employment card. HR, ext. 2070.
City benefits include health, dental, vision and life insurance, LAGERS retirement and twelve paid holidays. Firefighters work a 24/48 schedule.
Open bids and requests for proposals are posted at the city’s bid page, and you can subscribe to be notified of new ones.
Serving on a board
Fourteen boards and commissions take citizen appointments. There is one application form for all of them, and one person to talk to: Shirley Olney, ext. 2062, shirleyo@cityofmoberly.com.
The ones that meet regularly: Planning & Zoning, 6 p.m. the last Monday of the month · Parks & Recreation Board, 6 p.m. the third Tuesday at 204 N. Clark · Airport Advisory, 4 p.m. the second Monday · Board of Adjustment, the third Wednesday as needed · Historic Preservation, quarterly · Tourism Advisory Council, the second Tuesday of January, April, July and October.
The Board of Adjustment is worth understanding if you are fighting a zoning decision: it is a quasi-judicial body with exactly three jobs — hearing appeals of an administrative decision, granting variances for unnecessary hardship, and other matters referred to it. It does not administer subdivision regulations.
There is currently a vacancy on the Tourism Advisory Council, which awards grants from the city’s 4 percent hotel-motel tax to events that bring visitors to town.
Fees from the City of Moberly ordinance fee schedule, last revised December 2025, and from individual department pages, September 2026. Fees are set by ordinance and change — confirm before writing a cheque. Corrections: news@moberlymainline.com.
