Government charges are modest and depend on the route: a fee collected at the port of entry for an in-person application, or the Form I-129 petition fee where the employer files, with premium processing as an optional extra. Current amounts should be read from the USCIS fee schedule, Form G-1055, rather than from any figure quoted elsewhere.
The government charge is rarely the largest line
Budgets go wrong on the items around the fee rather than on the fee itself. A credential evaluation, certified translations, courier charges for a transcript, an adviser's review of the duties description and, where the employer petitions, the cost of assembling that petition all sit outside the published schedule. So does travel to a port of entry that turns out to be premature.
Hypothetical example: a landscape architect from Sainte-Cécile-de-Milton is asked by a design practice in New Hampshire to pay the petition costs herself and claim reimbursement after ninety days. Two separate questions follow. Whether an employer may lawfully shift a particular cost is a question for United States counsel and depends on which fee is involved.
Whether she should agree is a commercial judgement, and an employer unwilling to carry the cost of its own petition is telling her something about how firm the position is.