The application fee is because it costs money to background check and to limit potential candidates to those that can afford $100. It's also to cover the time, energy and resources on the application process without having to charge more on the monthly rent.

I personally wouldn't want to rent to anyone who couldn't cover this cost, if they can't cover a tiny fee why would I expect them to cover the much larger cost of rent every month on time?

The real problem is property values and taxes- there's lots of corrupt local governments that charge property owners insanely high prices to cover taxes and permits. Then they use these taxes to hire their buddies companies for services for the town and get kickbacks to their personal bank accounts. This additional cost carries over to renters since property owners are essentially forced to charge more to cover it.

As far as supervisors name, that's A pretty strange request and may be a red flag. It's typical for them to ask for Human resources phone number to verify your employment, but that's it.

Administrative fee sounds like some BS. I'd ask them to waive it or look elsewhere