CITY OF SAN MATEO
CITY OF SAN MATEO
Agenda Report
City Hall
330 W. 20th Avenue
San Mateo CA 94403
www.cityofsanmateo.org
Agenda Number: 11 Section Name: {{section.name}} Account Number: 10-2021 File ID: {{item.tracking_number}} TO: City Council
FROM: Alex Khojikian, City Manager
PREPARED BY: Finance Department
MEETING DATE: April 15, 2024
SUBJECT:
Fiscal Year 2024-25 Comprehensive Fee Schedule – Approval RECOMMENDATION:
Adopt a Resolution to approve the revisions to the proposed fiscal year 2024-25 Comprehensive Fee Schedule.
BACKGROUND:
Section 3.64.010 of the San Mateo Municipal Code requires the City Manager to submit the City’s fee schedule to the City Council for approval prior to submittal of the annual budget. It is the City's policy and practice to increase fees annually by Consumer Price Index (CPI) for the San Francisco Bay Area. The proposed increases reflect the City's increase in materials and maintenance costs incurred in providing services. The City uses the CPI from the previous October, which is the most recent data available at the beginning of the review process (CPI for 2024-25 is 2.8% from November 2022 to October 2023). Certain fees are adjusted using other formulas including the San Francisco, CA Construction Cost Index (CCI) which was 0.7% this year. Other adjustments to fees are made periodically as deemed necessary to reflect actual staff costs, market alignments, or to comply with policy. The proposed fee adjustments are based on the annual CPI increase, a periodic adjustment, or are the result of a fee study and detailed analyses of the cost for providing specific programs/activities.
The Wastewater Capacity Charge is a fee based on the cost of construction, therefore annual adjustments should be made in accordance with the CCI. In FY21-22 to FY23-24, the Wastewater Capacity Charge fee was inadvertently adjusted annually according to the CPI resulting in a lower increase. In the proposed FY24-25 fee schedule, the proposed Wastewater Capacity Charge fee resolves the errors and includes the current CCI increases for FY24-25.
Recreation fees and park in-lieu fees were reviewed by the Parks and Recreation Commission at its February 13, 2024 meeting. Library fees were reviewed by the Library Board at its February 26, 2024 meeting. All fees will become effective July 1, 2024, except where otherwise noted. Sewer service charges are set separately by ordinance and are not part of this fee revision process. Tables summarizing the new fees and various fee changes including those in excess of CPI are provided in Attachment 3.
Public Works currently collects a deposit for plan review and inspection services for large multi-family, commercial, and mixed-used building permits (new or redevelopment projects with associated Planning Applications). This current practice results in excessive administrative and overhead costs to keep the deposit account current. With larger building permits taking 2 – 5 years to complete it also presents challenges with auditors as deposits have a high volume of transactions and have proven to be difficult to track.
The new proposed Public Works Building Permit Support fee of 25% of the building permit fee will remove the deposit-
CITY OF SAN MATEO
based practice to establish a more streamlined approach. The flat fee will also provide better transparency to developers planning to develop in San Mateo as this fee can be calculated and accounted for upfront. The 2024 Public Works Fee Study recommended a building support fee of around 30% – 32%. Public Works is proposing 25% as a conservative number to make sure over-collection does not occur.
BUDGET IMPACT:
The changes to the fee schedule should result in some additional revenue in the new fiscal year. However, the actual amounts are difficult to calculate because the use of some services is voluntary, and the volume of activity varies.
ENVIRONMENTAL DETERMINATION:
This Comprehensive Fee Schedule update for fiscal year 2024-25 is not a project subject to CEQA, because it is a government fiscal activity which does not involve any commitment to any specific project which may result in a potentially significant physical impact on the environment. (CEQA Guidelines Section 15378(b)(4).)
NOTICE PROVIDED
All meeting noticing requirements were met. In accordance with Government Code sections 66018 and 6062a, notice of the fee increases was published twice, beginning 10 days in advance of the public hearing. Prior to the meeting, City staff made the data available for the public, indicating the amount of cost, or estimated cost, required to provide the service for which the fee or service charge is levied, and the receiving fund of the fee revenue.
ATTACHMENTS
Att 1 - Proposed Resolution
Att 2 - Proposed Comprehensive Fee Schedule FY 2024-2025 Att 3 - Tables Summarizing Changes
STAFF CONTACT
Karley Toffey, Senior Management Analyst
[email protected]
(650) 522-7106
Karen Huang, Finance Director
[email protected]
(650) 522-7110