CITY COUNCIL STAFF REPORT
Meeting Date: June 16, 2025
TO: THE HONORABLE MAYOR AND CITY COUNCILMEMBERS
TITLE: ADOPT RESOLUTION NO.___-25 UPDATING THE PROPOSED FISCAL YEAR 2025/2026 MASTER FEE SCHEDULE
SYNOPSIS
Staff is seeking City Council’s approval of proposed changes to the Fiscal Year 2025/2026 (FY 25/26) Master Fee Schedule (“MFS”), which would become effective September 1, 2025. The proposed MFS was reviewed by the Budget Committee at its meeting on June 4, 2025, at which the Committee recommended City Council’s adoption of the proposed MFS.
DISCUSSION
Background
A user fee, or service fee, is a payment made by an individual for a service that primarily benefits that individual. By law, user fees may not exceed the reasonable cost of the service for which they are collected. The intent of user fees is to cover the costs of providing the service. Included in the costs of the service are three components:
• Direct Labor. Employee hours spent directly on the fee-related service. This rate includes the employee’s salary and benefits.
• Departmental Indirect Labor. Departmental employees not directly working on the feerelated service but are responsible for supervision and administrative activities. This cost layer includes administrative support staff and a portion of the department head’s time. • Central Overhead. This component includes costs for those departments that provide support to other City departments (e.g. City Attorney, City Manager, Finance and Human Resources).
The City updated the comprehensive fee study in the prior year, which was accepted by the City Council along with the MFS on June 17, 2024. Staff, with the assistance of an outside consultant, analyzed if the City was receiving full cost recovery for services provided. Based on the analysis, several fees were updated in the prior year to adjust for full cost recovery including an adjustment for Consumer Price Index (CPI). Prior to that, the City Council adopted Resolution No. 51-03 in FY 03/04 approving the previous comprehensive MFS. At that time, the fees were updated for cost recovery and incorporated language to allow annual adjustments of certain fees based on CPI for the San Francisco-Oakland-San Jose metropolitan area.
Analysis
The City incorporated the changes from the comprehensive fee study in the prior year so there are minimal changes proposed to the MFS for FY 25/26 which include the following:
• Annual CPI Adjustment - A 2.7% increase in permissible fees, which represents the change in CPI as of February 2025 over prior year for the same period. (For ease of administration, fees will be rounded to the nearest whole dollar whenever possible.).
Additions/Revisions by Section:
City Clerk / City
Manager
Filing Fee Initiative Measure
The filing fee intending to circulate a citizen’s initiative petition pursuant to the California Elections Code - $200.
Citywide section Credit Card and Electronic Payment Processing Fee The convenience fee is not controlled by the City and subject to change by the merchant services provider (with proper notice which is approximately 30 days). This fee would be amended if the merchant provider gave proper notice to the City. The current convenience fee is 3% for all credit card transactions with a minimum transaction fee of $2.
Engineering Storm Drain Medallions
Part of installation condition for developers at each inlet site (“No Dumping” message) - $8 per unit
Compost Bins
Fees for Residents ($75) and Non-residents ($100)
Police Concealed Weapons Permits
Application – Base fee increase from $194 to $350 based on PD staff analysis of service cost.
Renewal - Base fee increase from $46 to $150 based on PD staff analysis of service cost.
FISCAL IMPACT
The impact on General Fund revenue will depend on the fee-related activity. The proposed changes to the MFS are designed to capture cost recovery for providing services to customers. Assuming similar levels of fee activity (used FY 2023/2024 as a baseline) and approval of all fees, the estimated increase is approximately $50,000.
PUBLIC CONTACT
Public contact was made through the posting of the City Council agenda on the City’s official notice bulletin board, at the Pleasant Hill Police Department, and at the Pleasant Hill Senior Center.
The agenda and staff report are posted on the City’s web page. A notice (attached) was also published twice in the East Bay Times newspaper, on May 21, 2025, and May 28, 2025. In addition, notices were e-mailed to interested parties who had filed a written request with the City to be informed when the hearing for the annual update of the MFS was to occur.
RECOMMENDED CITY COUNCIL ACTION
Adopt the resolution authorizing the changes to the Master Fee Schedule, as recommended by the Budget Committee.
ALTERNATIVES TO RECOMMENDED ACTION
Provide staff with directions regarding revisions to the Master Fee Schedule.
ATTACHMENT(S)
Proposed Resolution
Exhibit 1 – Proposed Master Fee Schedule Effective September 1, 2025 Exhibit 1 - Proposed Master Fee Schedule Effective September 1, 2025 – Redline Version Notice of Public Hearing
Prepared by: Erick Cheung, Chief Financial Officer
Ross Yangwas, Administrative Analyst II
Approved by: Ethan Bindernagel, City Manager