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Travis County

Austin Public Health, Environmental Health Services Division — administering Travis County's Chapter 247 program under an interlocal cooperation agreement

In short

Austin Public Health, Environmental Health Services Division — administering Travis County's Chapter 247 program under an interlocal cooperation agreement issues 5 permits we publish for Travis County, last verified 2026-09-28. Each carries the fee as the agency publishes it, with a link to the schedule it was read from.

What this agency issues

Permits required, with issuing agency, fee, renewal term and the date each record was last verified against its source
Pool / Spa Operating Permit (Ch. 247)only if it applies to youAustin Public Health, Environmental Health Services Division — administering Travis County's Chapter 247 program under an interlocal cooperation agreement$95.00 annual pool/spa operating permit plus a separate $50.00 plan review fee for a new or altered pool or spa, unincorporated Travis County (effective October 1, 2025).annual2026-09-28
Food Establishment Operational Permit (Ch. 247)Austin Public Health, Environmental Health Services Division — administering Travis County's Chapter 247 program under an interlocal cooperation agreement$250–$300 a year, risk-based, for a fixed food establishment in unincorporated Travis County (effective October 1, 2025)annual, per Travis County Code Chapter 247; the permit expires one year from the date of issuance2026-09-28
Child Care Facility Sanitation/Food-Service Permit (Ch. 247)Austin Public Health, Environmental Health Services Division — administering Travis County's Chapter 247 program under an interlocal cooperation agreement$250 a year flat, unincorporated Travis County (Ch. 247 Child Care Facility permit category; APH fee schedule effective October 1, 2026)annual, per Travis County Code Chapter 2472026-09-28
Mobile Food Vendor Health Permit — Now Issued by Texas DSHS (Travis County)only if it applies to youAustin Public Health, Environmental Health Services Division — administering Travis County's Chapter 247 program under an interlocal cooperation agreementNo feenot applicable at the county level as of July 1, 2026 — the credential is now a statewide DSHS license2026-09-28
Child Care Operating License — State HHSC License Applies (Travis County)only if it applies to youAustin Public Health, Environmental Health Services Division — administering Travis County's Chapter 247 program under an interlocal cooperation agreementNo feenot applicable at the county level2026-09-28

Fees shown as a range or formula are set that way by the issuing agency — we do not average them into a single number.

About each permit

Pool / Spa Operating Permit (Ch. 247)

A fitness studio or gym with a pool, spa or hot tub in unincorporated Travis County needs this Austin Public Health permit: $95.00 a year plus a separate $50.00 plan review fee for a new or altered facility, both materially cheaper than the City-of-Austin/Inter-Local pool tiers of $185-$312. A studio without a pool, spa or hot tub needs no permit under this program. As with every other Chapter 247 category, this is a distinct fee track from Austin's own city program and applies only in the unincorporated area; a facility inside Austin city limits uses the city program instead.

Food Establishment Operational Permit (Ch. 247)

Any fixed food establishment operating in unincorporated Travis County — a restaurant, coffee shop, or retail store that prepares or sells food — needs this Operational Permit from Austin Public Health, issued after plan review and a pre-opening inspection. Travis County does not staff its own environmental-health department; under an interlocal cooperation agreement, Austin Public Health administers this permit for unincorporated Travis County under the county's own ordinance, Chapter 247, as a legally separate track from APH's much larger City-of-Austin food-permit program. The 2025 unincorporated-county fee runs $250-$300 a year by risk category, materially cheaper than the City-of-Austin/Inter-Local track's $309-$927 range for the same category — do not substitute one fee for the other. A business physically located inside Austin city limits falls under APH's city program instead, out of scope here. Plan review and a pre-operational inspection are required before a new or converted food establishment opens.

Child Care Facility Sanitation/Food-Service Permit (Ch. 247)

A child-care facility in unincorporated Travis County that serves food needs this Austin Public Health sanitation/food-service permit under Chapter 247 — a flat $250 a year, unlike the risk-banded restaurant fee above. This is separate from, and incidental to, the facility's actual child-care operating license, which is a Texas HHSC function (see the Child Care Operating License record). APH's Environmental Health Services Division fee schedule (updated September 15, 2026, effective October 1, 2026) lists the Travis County Child Care Facility fee at $250 and, in its separate City of Austin/Inter-Local column, a $309 Child Care Facility fee that applies to a facility inside Austin city limits, not to this county permit.

Mobile Food Vendor Health Permit — Now Issued by Texas DSHS (Travis County)

Under Texas HB 2844 (Health and Safety Code Chapter 437B), mobile food vendor licensing moved to the state, so there is no fee payable to the county for this permit. Before July 1, 2026, Travis County — via the same Austin Public Health interlocal arrangement that administers Chapter 247 — issued its own unincorporated-county mobile food vendor health permit, separate from the Fire Marshal's fire-safety inspection below. DSHS's Mobile Food Vendors page states that 'Beginning July 1, 2026, all MFVs must be licensed with the Texas Department of State Health Services' and that 'Previously, MFVs had to get licenses from local health departments for each local jurisdiction they operated in.' A mobile food vendor therefore applies to Texas DSHS directly rather than to Austin Public Health for the county track. This does not touch the Fire Marshal's separate fire-safety inspection recorded next, which continues to apply.

Child Care Operating License — State HHSC License Applies (Travis County)

No fee applies at the county level for the child-care operating license itself. The Travis County Code index page lists no child-care licensing chapter, and the Texas Health and Human Services Commission's Child Care Regulation page states that HHSC 'protects children by regulating and educating child care providers.' This is distinct from the Chapter 247 Child Care Facility sanitation/food-service permit recorded separately, which DOES apply to a facility in unincorporated Travis County that serves food — that county-administered permit is incidental to the state operating license, not a substitute for it, and a facility needs both where it applies. A facility inside Austin or another incorporated city uses APH's city-side sanitation permit instead of the county one, but still needs the same state HHSC operating license regardless of location.

Contact

Jurisdiction
Travis County
Phone
Not verified — use the website

Contact details are taken from the agency’s own site or its published fee schedule. Where we have not verified a phone number we leave it blank rather than guess.

Sources

Every fee and term above was read from one of these government pages on the date shown.

  1. Child Care Regulation (statewide child-care operating licensure, distinct from a local health/sanitation permit)Texas Health and Human Services Commission · primary source · retrieved 2026-09-29
  2. Environmental Health Services Division fee schedule, effective October 1, 2025 (fixed food establishment, pool/spa, and Child Care Facility fee tables, City-of-Austin/Inter-Local and unincorporated-Travis-County columns)Austin Public Health · primary source · retrieved 2026-09-29
  3. Mobile Food Vendors - Texas DSHSTexas Department of State Health Services · primary source · retrieved 2026-08-22
  4. Permit Fee Schedule — Austin Public HealthCity of Austin, Austin Public Health · primary source · retrieved 2026-08-22
  5. Public Health Regulations for Unincorporated Areas of Travis CountyAustin Public Health · primary source · retrieved 2026-09-29
  6. Texas Health and Safety Code Chapter 437, Regulation of Food Service Establishments, Retail Food Stores, Mobile Food Units, and Roadside Food VendorsTexas Legislature · primary source · retrieved 2026-09-28
  7. Texas Health and Safety Code Chapter 437B, Mobile Food Vendors (added by HB 2844, 89th Legislature, effective July 1, 2026)Texas Legislature · primary source · retrieved 2026-09-28
  8. Travis County Code Chapter 247, Food Establishment Permits (amended through January 29, 2019)Travis County Commissioners Court · primary source · retrieved 2026-09-29
  9. Travis County Code index — by Title, Subtitle, and Chapter (Title 2 Ordinances & Regulations: Subtitles 11 Fire & Emergency, 13 Health & Safety, 15 Environment and 19 Land Development)Travis County Commissioners Court · primary source · retrieved 2026-09-29

Other offices serving Travis County

The full permit list for this jurisdiction

Industry permit lists that include this agency

Texas jurisdictions

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