Agenda Report
Fullerton City Council
MEETING DATE: MAY 2, 2023
TO: CITY COUNCIL / SUCCESSOR AGENCY
SUBMITTED BY: Sunayana Thomas, Director of Community and economic development PREPARED BY: CHRIS SCHAEFER, PLANNING MANAGER
TAYLOR SAMUELSON, SENIOR ADMINISTRATIVE ANALYST
SUBJECT: NEW AND REVISED Community and economic development – planning and zoning FEES
SUMMARY
Consideration of adding, increasing and/or modifying Planning and Zoning fees beginning Fiscal Year (FY) 2023-24 for services provided by the Community and Economic Development Department to approach cost recovery for services provided.
RECOMMENDATION
Direct staff to submit proposed fee changes, as recommended by the Community and Economic Development Department, beginning Fiscal Year 2023-24 for approval at a June 6, 2023 Public Hearing.
CITY MANAGER REMARKS
There are three proposed changes to the fees recommended for City Council consideration.
Two are minor changes and one is a change to the appeal fee for non-applicants.
PRIORITY POLICY STATEMENT
This item matches the following Priority Policy Statement:
Fiscal and Organizational Stability.
FISCAL IMPACT
Staff projects a minor increase in revenues for Planning and Zoning Fees presenting as less than 1% of the overall fees to achieve greater cost recovery as well as ease of use for both applicants and staff.
Staff will incorporate additional revenue into FY 2023-24 Proposed Budget for adoption on June 6, 2023, if given direction to proceed and if timing permits,. Staff would also include additional fees for formal ratification in the FY 2023-24 annual fee resolution.
DISCUSSION
Background
Cities adopt fees to recover the cost for services that provide a specific benefit to the person or entity receiving the service. The Government Code allows cities to set and control the amount of user fees charged to recover the cost of providing the service, to the extent that the fees do not exceed the reasonable cost for the City to provide the service. The user receives a subsidy when cities do not require users to pay the full cost of the service they receive.
The City cost to provide services include the direct salary and benefits associated with providing the services (personnel costs) as well as other operational labor and material costs associated with service provision (direct overhead). Cities may also recover indirect support costs relating to an agency’s central service departments allocable to the operating departments (e.g., human resources, finance, purchasing and liability insurance).
The Community and Economic Development department provides a variety of planning, land use and entitlement services to the public. The department seeks to operate without significantly drawing from the City’s General Fund by levying of certain fees that archive partial cost-recovery. Staff has reviewed existing operational costs and requests certain planning and zoning fee adjustments to achieve greater cost-recovery.
Planning and Zoning Fees
City Council approved the Community and Economic Development department fee study proposal on cost recovery in 2021. An applicant appeal fee currently achieves a 7% or less cost recovery. However, the City subsidizes the non-applicant appeal fees beyond the time it takes staff to process and review appeals. The fee schedule assumed a 7% subsidy but did not include the staff time associated with resubmitting a project to either the Planning Commission or City Council by a non-applicant. Staff recognizes the importance of maintaining low costs for the public to appeal and proposes to modify the fee to 25% of the original application fee but not exceed $2,000 to retain a fee lower than the applicant appeal fee and achieve a greater cost recovery.
Other Planning and Zoning fee adjustments include a request to round all existing fees to the nearest $1.00 which would produce ease of use for both applicants and staff. Additionally, staff requests establishing a one-time fee to achieve the actual cost for complete mailings for distribution and notifications. In general, staff requests minor planning and zoning fee adjustments that occur infrequently. Adopting these fee adjustments would produce greater cost recovery for the division.
Fee Comparison
Fullerton
Permit/Fee
Existing
Proposed
Garden Grove
Orange
La Habra
Appeal By Non-Applicants
$231.50
25% App Fee (Not to Exceed $2,000.00)
$350-480
$1,000
$2,705
Various Fee Rounding
Varies
$0-$0.90 Adj
Whole $
Whole $
Whole $
Mailing Fee (Print Costs)
$0.00
Actual Cost (Approximately $67.00)
Varies
N/A
Actual Cost
The Fee Comparison Table identifies deficiencies in City fees, however, comparing fees with other cities proves challenging given varying fully-burdened employee rates, different full cost recovery philosophies, the content of the fees, etc. These variations make direct comparisons problematic and a less reliable method for analysis purposes.
Staff will incorporate City Council direction regarding the proposed fee changes into the FY 2023-24 Annual Fee Resolution for City Council for adoption on June 6, 2023.
Attachments:
Attachment 1 – PowerPoint Presentation
Attachment 2 – CED Redlined Fee Schedule
cc: City Manager Eric J. Levitt
New and Revised CED Fees
May 2, 2023 - Page 3