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HomeMy WebLinkAboutItem 09a - Establishing-Adjusting Various City Fees DATE: December 18, 2018 TO: Honorable Mayor and City Council FROM: Dominic Lazzaretto, City Manager Prepared by: Lisa Mussenden, Chief Deputy City Clerk/Records Manager SUBJECT: RESOLUTION NO. 7239 ESTABLISHING AND/OR ADJUSTING VARIOUS FEES FOR CITY SERVICES; AND FINDING THAT THIS RESOLUTION IS EXEMPT FROM THE REQUIREMENTS OF THE CALIFORNIA ENVIRONMENTAL QUALITY ACT (“CEQA”) Recommendation: Adopt SUMMARY The City of Arcadia periodically reviews its fees and charges for services to make su re they are consistent with the current cost of providing the service. Each department has recently completed a review of their fees, and the proposed changes are outlined in this report and in the attached Resolution No. 7239. Of the approximately 950 fees on record, just 62 are proposed to be altered by this Resolution. Should Resolution No. 7239 be adopted by the City Council, the new fees will become effective January 1, 2019. It is recommended that the City Council adopt Resolution No. 7239. BACKGROUND City fees are reviewed on a regular basis for the purpose of making sure they are consistent with the cost of providing the service. Fee amounts are set at a rate that enables the City to recover all or a portion of the cost of the service. In no instance may a fee exceed the cost of providing the service. Before changing or setting a fee, staff conducts a cost analysis study to determine the actual cost of providing service. In addition to reviewing such things as staff and/or consultant time and materials, the cost analysis takes into account the impact to the end user and the amount charged by other municipalities for similar services. This ensures that the established fees do not overburden the rate payer. Resolution No. 7239 establishing/adjusting various City fees December 18, 2018 Page 2 of 6 DISCUSSION The City of Arcadia has approximately 950 different user fees. Of these, it is proposed that 43of them be increased, one (1) be decreased, 17 new ones be established, and one (1) be corrected. The remaining fees will remain unchanged. The current review of fees has resulte d in proposed changes to fees in the Development Services, Fire, Library & Museum Services, and Public Works Services Departments. No changes are proposed at this time in the Police, Recreation and Community Services and Administrative Services Departments. The changes are detailed in Exhibit “A” attached to Resolution No. 7239, and are summarized below. Should Resolution No. 7239 be adopted by the City Council, the new fees will become effective January 1, 2019. Development Services The Development Services Department (“DSD”) is adjusting and/or adding a number of fees relative to cost recovery of work in the Planning, Engineering, Building, and Business License Divisions. With regard to Planning, a total of 11 new fees are being added for processes that currently do not have an associated application fee. Seven of these fees are for Amendments to existing Planning Applications, including Design Review applications and Variance applications. While there currently are fees for the original applications, the City has never had a fee for Amendments to approved projects. As designs are modified and changed, this can often lead to additional iterations of projects and a substantial additional workload. These new fees are designed to simply recover the cost of staff effort, noticing, and the like when these projects are amended. The fees are roughly 50% of the cost of the original application fees. The DSD is also adding four (4) new fees as a result of new processes required by the State of California. Over time, the State has changed or significantly relaxed regulations on certain activities, requiring local jurisdictions to react with new processes and applications. These include new fees for Reasonable Accommodation requests (when a person with a disability needs a modification to their home or business), Mobile Food Vending in the right-of-way (standards require cities to allow such uses), Sidewalk Vending Permits (recent State law requires cities to allow these uses), and Indoor Marijuana Cultivation Permits (again, State law requires this). Fees proposed for all of these new processes cover staff time, noticing, and other hard costs and are strictly geared to cost recovery. The final Planning-related fees are simple fee increases to two existing p rocesses: Variances and Adult Business Regulatory Permits. The fees are being raised to be Resolution No. 7239 establishing/adjusting various City fees December 18, 2018 Page 3 of 6 more consistent with the amount of processing time, review, and interdepartmental coordination that is necessary to review and opine on these cases. Similarly, in t he Engineering Division, fees are being increased for the issuance of Encroachment Permits, and the reimbursement fee for review of Encroachment Permits by engineering staff. For the latter fee, there is a wide range of potential encroachment permits, from curb cuts to cell towers. We currently have no way to charge for extraordinary review of larger efforts like cell towers, so this fee would cover that staff time. The DSD is also recommending increases to the across -the-board charges for both Business Licenses and Building Permits. Increasing the fees for these licenses and permits is specifically authorized by the Municipal Code and increases are designed to follow cost of living increases and/or CPI. In the case of Business Licenses, the last CPI increase was in 2015 so the City is authorized to increase fees up to 9%. However, the most recent year-to-year CPI increase is just over 4%, and in an effort to be business friendly, the recommendation is to increase license costs by only the 4%. In the Building Division, it is recommended that a 5% increase be applied to the building permit valuation tables and building permit issuance fees. Building Permit fees have not been raised since 2011, so this increase is fair and reasonable. A 1% technology charge is also being added to assist with the cost of new permit tracking and permit issuance software. Finally, the Building Division is recommending an increase to the change of address fee to cover the actual costs of this review. Changes at the State related to Accessory Dwelling Units has necessitated this increase due to the additional review required. The last modification to mention from the DSD is what is being called a Small Business Fee Reduction. This is a program where Economic Development Staff wou ld reduce planning and “start-up” related costs (e.g. Conditional Use Permit or Minor Use Permit) for small businesses by 50% to provide a business friendly incentive as an assist to these businesses. Although this is not an increase, and would result in a slight loss of planning fee revenue, it is believed this is an important gesture that the Department can offer to help fill tenant spaces and make small business start-ups more viable. Fire Department The Fire Department will be increasing 12 of its fees to reflect the updated inspection and administration costs for conducting the issuance of these permits. The majority of the increases will be in the $5-$10 range. Additionally, three (3) new fees are being proposed due to an update in the California Fire Code and for cost recovery associated with these fire services. Based on the recent cost allocation analysis, the new fees will include the following: (a) carbon dioxide beverage dispensing systems permit ($85); (b) occupancy final permit inspection ($100/hour); and (c) building evacuation, to be assessed on the second and Resolution No. 7239 establishing/adjusting various City fees December 18, 2018 Page 4 of 6 subsequent occurrence at the same location address during a calendar year ($1,495). The largest new fee is the building evacuation fee since this requires personnel from several fire suppression company units to ensure that the building occupants are able to successfully and safely leave the building. Typically, building evacuations are caused by inadequate maintenance of buildings’ safety and emergency systems and , therefore, the fee would encourage building owners to better properly maintain their facility. Library & Museum Services The Library & Museum Services Department is requesting an increase to the Cay Mortenson Auditorium rental fee, the Interlibrary Loan fee, the pro cessing fee for paperback books, and Passport Services Fee set by the U.S. Department of State, and a correction to the already approved Passport Photo Fee. In addition, this department is requesting a new Auditorium Security Deposit (refundable), and a ne w English Conversation Class Fee to defray the costs of supplies and materials, effective August 2019. In addition, the Library is requesting to charge Book Reserve fees only for items not picked up within 7 days. Increase: Auditorium rental fee - $80 per hour with a 2-hour minimum was last raised in 2008. The Cay Mortenson Auditorium is available for rental to non -profit groups. This fee has not been increased in 10 years. The Cost Allocation Study recommends raising this fee significantly to help defray the rising labor, utility, and maintenance costs associated with booking, preparing, and cleaning the auditorium. Same: Auditorium cleaning fee - $50 per use when food is served When groups that rent the Auditorium serve food, there are additional co sts for cleaning the kitchen, carpet, tables, and chairs. The fee increase will help defray the cost of rising labor and maintenance costs associated with cleaning the Auditorium. New: Auditorium Security Deposit (refundable) - This is a new fee that would be consistent with other rental facilities within the City. It would defray the cost of facility and equipment damage, extra staff time required when a group does not leave on time or requires additional services. $150 Resolution No. 7239 establishing/adjusting various City fees December 18, 2018 Page 5 of 6 Increase: Interlibrary loan fee - $3 to $5 This fee is collected when the Library borrows an item from another library on behalf of a patron. The Cost Allocation Study recommends raising the charge for interlibrary loans. This increase will help defray the rising labor, postage, and su pplies associated with the loans. This fee has not been raised since 2008. Increase: Items lost or damaged beyond repair - Processing charge (paperbacks) $3.00/item $10/item When an item is lost or damaged, the Library charges the cost to replace the ite m plus a processing fee that covers staff time to catalog and prepare the item for checkout, including labels, covers, etc. The Cost Allocation Study recommends raising the paperback charges consistent with all other materials. The same amount of staff tim e is needed regardless of the type of item damaged. New: English Conversation Class Fees If established, this new fee would help recover the current costs of supplies, class materials, set-up, maintenance, utilities, and labor needed to run this program. Currently, the cost per student for supplies is $0.50 per week for the two photocopied worksheets and $5.00 per month for one copy of the Easy English News. When this program was originally set up, it was all-volunteer run. The Library provided a space and the coordination, recruitment of volunteers, supplies, and photocopy paper were paid for by the students and collected by the all-volunteer class coordinator and volunteer leaders. Four years ago, the volunteer coordinators stepped down with no success in getting someone to volunteer their time to run this important program. At the direction of the Library Board, this program was taken over as a library program. Because there were never any established fees set, fees could not be collected. This would establish a new fee to help offset the cost of this program that currently is not City-supported as a line item within the Library’s operational budget. Public Works Services In its review of recovering full costs or proportion of the costs in providing s ervices, the Public Works Services Department (“PWSD”) is proposing fee adjustments to 20 existing fees. Due to increases in personnel hourly rates, overhead costs, and equipment and vehicle rates, fee increases are being proposed to allow the PWSD to recover the costs associated with providing these services. The increases range from $5 to $40 depending on the type of service being provided. The fee changes relate to street maintenance, stormwater inspections, and water services. Resolution No. 7239 establishing/adjusting various City fees December 18, 2018 Page 6 of 6 For example, the PWSD proposes to update the fee to process and analyze water quality. This fee was last reviewed on February 18, 1997 , and included only lab analysis costs. The PWSD is proposing to include the actual cost to process and take the water sample plus lab costs. Additionally, the PWSD is proposing to apply a fee for maintenance personnel having to go back out to a property for a water meter turn on due to water fixtures not being properly closed. This fee was last updated on January 17, 2017, but did not include maintenance personnel having to go back out to the property due to customer’s water fixtures being left on. There are times where staff has to go out several times to a property to turn on the water meter because the customer does not properly turn off water fixtures. ENVIRONMENTAL IMPACT The establishment and/or adjustment of fees are statutorily exempt from CEQA per Section 15273 of the CEQA Guidelines (Sections 21080(b)(8) and 21083, Public Resources Code). PUBLIC COMMENTS/NOTICE Consideration of Resolution No. 7239 requires a public hearing, which was noticed to the public in the Arcadia Weekly newspaper on December 6 and December 10. As of the time this report was written, no comments had been received. FISCAL IMPACT The net fiscal impact from the fee adjustments to the General Fund is estimated at $341,685, $64,115 to the Water Fund, and $2,492 to the Sewer Fund. These estimates depend on the level of participation by the user of the services , so actual receipts may be different. These fee adjustments would only reflect services through the end of this Fiscal Year, June 30. The new fee rates are not reflected in the Fiscal Year 201 8-19 adopted budget. RECOMMENDATION It is recommended that the City Council find that this Resolution is exempt from the requirements of the California Environmental Quality Act (“CEQA”); and adopt Resolution No. 7239 establishing and/or adjusting various fees for City services. Attachment: Resolution No. 7239