CITY OF SIMI VALLEY
MEMORANDUM
A
pril 3, 2023
TO
: City Council
F
ROM: Department of Administrative Services
S
UBJECT: A JOINT PUBLIC HEARING BY THE CITY COUNCIL OF THE CITY OF
SIMI VALLEY AND BOARD OF DIRECTORS OF THE VENTURA
COUNTY WATERWORKS DISTRICT NO. 8 TO CONSIDER ADOPTION
OF A JOINT RESOLUTION APPROVING ADJUSTMENTS TO THE CITY-
WIDE SCHEDULE OF FEES AND SERVICE CHARGES
STAFF RECOMMENDATION
Staff recommends that the City Council and Board of Directors conduct a public hearing and adopt Joint Resolution No. 2023- 15/WWD-292 (page 8) amending the schedule of service charges. The Fees under Environmental Services are Development fees ; and therefore will be effective after 60 days, (June 5, 2023) . All other fees to be effective immediately.
BACKGROUND AND OVERVIEW
On November 2, 2010, California voters approved Proposition 26 (“Prop. 26”), the “Stop Hidden Taxes Initiative,” which defined local government revenue as a tax and set forth seven exception categories for local governments that encompass most fees and charges that a city may impose . Licenses and Permits, Government Services, Property Development, fines and penalties, and a fee for a special benefit or privilege to the person paying are five of the exemption categories available. Prop. 26 imposes an additional requirement that the fee imposed must not exceed the City’s reasonable costs.
The City levies a range of permit fees, charges, and other fees or payments, which are listed in a comprehensiv e schedule called, “Summary of Service Char ges.” Maintaining a comprehensive book with all the v arious fees and charges ensures that the City provides the public with one document that contains all City fees rather than providing the information in sever al documents or in piecemeal form. In addition, the Schedule is available on the City’s website. Although the City reviews the Schedule yearly, ther e are times when revis ions are made to certain fees during the year. When that occurs, the comprehens ive book is updated.
On December 2, 2019, the City Council approved adjustments to the Summary of Service Charges to achieve full cost recovery for each service without exceeding the City’s cost to provide the service. On August 23, 2021, to facilitate the implementation of the AGENDA ITEM NO.
5A
2 EnerGov permitting system, City Council approved the discontinuation of r ounding the fees, and to use a straight percentage method for fee adjustments.
In accordance with R esolution no’s. 2019-51, WWD-274, and PL-29, the City Manager has the authority to annually adjust the service charges, based upon the increase in the “All Urban Consumers – Los Angeles-Long Beach-Anaheim Consumer Price Index (CPI)’ for January of the current year. Service charges were adjusted on July 1, 2022, by the January 2022 CPI rate of 7.5%.
At this time, staff has identified a number of adjustments that are being recommended to the City’s fees. Staff recommends the City Council approve the recommended changes.
FINDINGS AND ALTERNATIVES
Below is a summary of the fees and c harges that staff is recommending be adopted at this time. Exhibit A (page 10) to the Resolution contains a listing of the adjustments that are being proposed.
City Administration
Convenience Fee to Recover Costs on Credit Cards and Debit Cards Consistent with City Council policy of full cost recovery , st aff is proposing charging a convenience fee of 3.25% to customers that pay on credit cards and debit cards. The City currently has multiple credit card processors that charge s ervice fees. These fees vary depending on the payment processor and card used, resulting in $183,000 of annual charges in fiscal year 2022 that were absorbed by the City.
Staff is upgrading the City’s Enterprise Resource Planning and Permitting systems to take advantage of the latest features and added functionality. As part of the upgrade, we are standardizing the credit card, debit card, and electronic check processor to Tyler Payments. This change provides several benefits including:
- T
yler’s payment processing system adheres to a high level of security standards (PCI DSS level 1, SOC level 2).
- It will save staff time reconciling accounts between the financial system and payment processing system.
- T he payment processor is the same vendor that provides the utility billing and permitting system reducing finger-pointing when resolving issues. - Customer payments will post in real-time.
- Will allow the city to expand online billing services to include special events, one- time charges, and process reoccurring payments.
This upgrade will allow Tyler Payments to charge the customer directly for the payment processing fee, leaving the City’s portion of the charge to only the amount of the payment due. Staff is recommending customers who wish to avoid these charges use standard payment methods such as electronic funds transfer, paper check, or a bank -initiated payment. Under the staff proposal , if customers would like to pay with a credit or debit card a 3.25% service fee will be added.
3 Government Code Section 6159(b) permits public agencies to authorize the acceptance of a credit card, debit card, or electronic funds transfer for the payment for services rendered by the City with approval of the City Council . Additionally, S ection 6159(h) states the public agency may impose a fee for the use of a credit or debit card or electronic funds transfer, not to exceed the costs incurred by the agency or agent in providing for payment by credit or debit card or electronic funds transfer.
As we are phasing in the new check processor, on- line permits and over the counter transactions are estimated to start being charged in May 2023. Utility billing customers, that pay online, are the only group of customers that will not be charged this fee until January 2024.
Public Works
Voluntary Lot Merger
At the October 10, 2022, meeting, the City Council approved Ordinance No. 1343 to provide procedures for voluntary lot mergers. Since this process requires a Certificate of Compliance and the same amount of staff time to process the standard lot merger/certificate of compliance, staff is recommending that the City charge the same fee that has been approved for the standard lot merger/certificate of compliance, which is currently $1,026.63.
Communication Site License / Lease Agreement
The City’s current schedule of fees and charges includes a fee for Communication Site Lease Agreements for the Waterworks District No. 8. Staff would also like to have this fee available for City operations.
The purpose of this fee is to recover costs associated with negotiating and developing a site license/lease for a telecommunications site facility, such as, investigating the feasibility of the site, coordinating the proposal with Environmental Services, reviewing plans, and preparing staff reports and documentation related to the project .
Communication Site Lease Agreements requests are a fast growing service that the City will be providing as the cellular communications industry continuously expands to provide service to its commercial and residential customers in Simi Valley. New requests may be located on almost any available City-owned property that can provide a communications signal reached by its customers. City staff time to receive and prepare agreements takes several hours from the initial request, agreement preparations, agreement negotiations, and staff report preparation for City Council approval.
This fee would be set at the same fee as the Waterworks District No. 8 fee, which is currently $3,782.93
4 Environmental Services – Code Enforcement
Administrative Processing Fee
Staff is recommending the addition of an Administrative Processing Fee for Ventura County Animal Services (VCAS) to recoup the processing cost with an outside vendor , VCAS, and City Staff. The fee would be set at $38.87.
Environmental Services – Housing
Homebuyer Assistance Application Fee
Homebuyer Assistance Applic ation fee, for moderate- income households (above 80% Area Median Income), to be charged upon complete application submission. Low-income households (up to 80% Area Median Income) are exempt from this fee. Incomplete applications will not be processed until all documents received and the fee is paid. The fee is proposed to be set at $274.08, which covers 2.5 hours of staff time and the cost of a credit report.
Homebuyer Assistance Loan Processing Fee
This fee will only be charged upon initial income qualification and pursuing an actual loan for moderate-income households. Low-income households are exempt from this fee. The fee is proposed to be set at $460.71 and covers 3.75 hours of staff time for document prep, routing, loan review, and packet assembly. There will be no charge for City notary services.
Environmental Services – Building & Safety
The following new fees are being recommended.
FEE NAME JUSTIFICATION AMOUNT
$247.51/hr
Tw o hour min.
$247.51/hr
Tw o hour min.
Request for Substitution of Alternate Method or
Materials Fee is the same as the current hourly Building Plan Check Fee Application for Unreasonable Hardship
Exceptions to Disabled Access Requirements Fee is the same as the current hourly Building Plan Check Fee Permit Plan Check Extension. When original permit has not expired. Fee amount is updated in line with current Building Permit Issuance Fee $63.42 Changes to Permit When original permit has not expired. Fee amount is updated in line with current Building Permit Issuance Fee $63.42 5 Environmental Services – Planning
The following new fees and fee adjustments are being recommended.
The following alternatives are available to the City Council/Board of Directors:
1. Review and approve the proposed adjustments to the City -wide Schedule of Service Charges.
2. Adopt Resolution No. 2023-15/WWD-292 approving service fee adjustments to the Schedule of Service Charges.
3. Do not authorize any changes to the City’s existing Schedule of Service Charges, and retain all current fees.
FEE NAME JUSTIFICATION AMOUNT
Request for Proposals (RFP) Preparation Fee is to recover costs associated with staff preparing the RFP for projects that would require an EIR or consultant prepared environmental review ($2,327 x 7.5% CPI = $2,501.53)
Lot Merger-Certificate of Compliance Update title to include “Voluntary Lot Merger” This is a new application category that is equivalent to the Lot Merger processing fee No Change
Sign Permit Remove the decal charge from the fee schedule; no longer issuing decals Remove Temporary Use Permit (TUP) Clean Up
Deposit
Staff collects a refundable cleanup deposit for TUP. It is recommended that the published deposit fee be increased from $1,000 to “$1,500 minimum” to ensure cleanup of sites after temporary events (such as Christmas tree lots)
$1,500 deposit
Initial Environmental Study Add 3rd Party Preparation/Review 1,811.38 Negative Declaration Add: **Plus any outside costs, State or Local County Fees, and 10% of contract costs And $15,000 deposit
Mitigated Negative Declaration This fee is being added to allow for consultant preparation of non-EIR environmental documents. With elimination of dedicated Environmental Planners form the Department of Environmental Services, the City has the option of using consultants to prepare these more-complex documents (that are not EIRs) to help expedite development applications and ensure the reports are legally defensible.
Initial Environmental Study
Negative Declaration
Mitigated Negative Declaration
Landscape Plan Review/Inspection
Add “Tree Report Review” to the title as staff uses the same fee deposit and consultant for both the tree report and the landscape plan reviews and inspections. Also, change the Landscape Plan Review deposit from $1,000 to $2,500 min (leaving the 1.5% estimate and 10% contract management language intact. $2,500
Modifications Copy the Modification charge (found under Conditional Use Permit to Planned Development Permit section and label as “Modification to existing Planned Development Permit” Fee remains the same No Change Temporary Sign Permit
Add “Same Year Renewal Fee (Per application)”. With Energov, staff issues one Temporary Sign Permit per year when requested by a business or other entity. This permit may be used for up to eight periods in the calendar year, which may result in sign changes (e.g. size, location, wording changes based on the nature of the promotion). This requires staff to update the permit when the new information is submitted. The time spent is similar to submitting the Face Change sign permit and should match that fee $37.63
In addition to existing fee of $1,053.50, add deposit and “*plus 10% of contract cost for contract management” This fee is to cover peer review of the Economic Cost Benefit Analysis for Pre-Screening applications for Commercial/Industrial General Plan Amendment Pre-Screening requests.
Civic Center Permit Application fee for an entitlement for a project within the Civic Center Zoning District. It is equivalent to a Planned Development (PD) or Conditional Use Permit (CUP) Fee $2,500 deposit
Refer to fees
listed under
Planned
Development
and Conditional
Use Permit
Environmental Impact Report/ Environmental
Review – Request for Proposal Preparation $2,501.53
Tree Removal Permit Add asterisk to Developer Requested amount for per tree charge No Change Economic Development Analysis Review $10,000
deposit
Add asterisk to Major amount and move “*Plus any State or Local County Fees” below Major No Change Development Agreement Annual Review Add: Charges are at the fully allocated hourly rate for all involved personnel and outside costs, plus 10% of contract cost for contract management
6 4. Provide Staff with further direction.
Staff recommends Alternative Nos. 1 and 2.
SUGGESTED CITY COUNCIL MOTION
I move to approve proposed adjustments to the City -wide Schedule of Service Charges and adopt Resolution No. 2023-15/WWD-292 approving service fee adjustments to the Schedule of Service Charges.
SUMMARY
City Council adopted a policy of full cost recovery based on the recommendations within the cost of services study adopted on December 2, 2019. In keeping with this policy, the Schedule of Fees and Charges needs to be updated annually based upon the increase in “All Urban Consumers – Los Angeles -Long Beach-Anaheim Consumer Price Index (CPI)” for January of the current year . At this time, staff is also bringing forward an update to the Administrative Services, Public Works, and Environmental Services fees. The City has multiple credit card processors that charge convenience fees , these fees average $183,000 of annual charges that are absorbed by the City . Under the staff recommendation if customers would like to pay with a credit or debit card a 3.25% convenience fee will be added. Customers who wish to avoid these charges can use other payment methods such as electronic funds transfer, paper check, or a bank-initiated payment.
Carolyn Johnson,
Administrative Services Director
INDEX Page
Public Hearing Procedure ............................................................... 7 Joint Resolution No. 2023-15/WWD-292 ......................................... 8 Exhibit A – Proposed Adjustments to the City Schedule of Fees and Service Charges ..................................................... 10
7 JOINT PUBLIC HEARING PROCEDURE
HEARING DATE: APRIL 3, 2023
1. CITY CLERK: This is the time and place set for a joint public hearing to consider adoption of a joint Resolution approving adjustments to the City schedule of fees and service charges. (Read by City Clerk including reading of Resolution)
2. MAYOR/CHAIR: May we have an oral report on this matter by staff?
3. STAFF: (Report)
4. MAYOR/CHAIR: Any questions of staff from City Council Members? (Questions of staff and staff response)
5. MAYOR/CHAIR: At this time I would like to open the hearing for anyone in the City Council Chambers wishing to be heard on this matter?
6. AUDIENCE: Public Testimony and Comments
7. MAYOR/CHAIR: The hearing is now closed.
8. MAYOR/CHAIR: Any further comments or questions from City Council Members?
9. MAYOR/CHAIR: I will now entertain a motion.
10. ANY COUNCIL
MEMBER : City Council Actions (by motion of any Council Member):
1) Adopt, modify, or not adopt Resolution No. 2023-
15/WWD-292 (requires a second and a vote; requires
reading of resolution).
* Any action to refer the matter back to staff or to continue the matter requires a second and a vote.
11. ANY COUNCIL
MEMBER : Second
12. MAYOR/CHAIR: (Call for vote)
13. MAYOR/CHAIR: Proceed to the next item.
8 RESOLUTION NO. 2023-15/WWD-292
A
JOINT RESOLUTION OF THE CITY COUNCIL OF THE
CITY OF SIMI VALLEY, AND THE BOARD OF DIRECTORS
OF THE VENTURA COUNTY WATERWORKS DISTRICT NO.
8 APPROVING ADJUSTMENTS TO THE SCHEDULE OF
SERVICE CHARGES
W
HEREAS, it is the desire of the City Council and the Board of Directors to establish an equitable basis for costing services, to accommodate special requests for services while ensuring that the public -at-large does not incur the cost, to provide for reasonable cost recovery in providing these services to the public, to ensure an ongoing review and analysis of service charges, to ensure that fees do not exceed the cost of providing services, and to provide a single source for fee information; and W
HEREAS, the City Council and Board of Directors has previously authorized the use of credit cards and debit cards to pay for City services, administrative citations, utilities, parking citations, permit fees, and other transactions; and; W
HEREAS, the proposed Convenience Fees are consistent with the City’s/ District’s policy of full cost recovery for the costs of business as reflected in the yearly Adopted Budgets; and
W
HEREAS, on April 3, 2023, the City Council of the City of Simi Valley and the Board of the Directors of the Ventura County Waterworks District No. 8 held a duly noticed public hearing to consider adjustments to the Schedule of Service Charges; and W
HEREAS, the City Council and the Board of Directors find and determine that the fees set forth in the proposed adjustments to the Schedule of Service Charges reasonably reflect the costs of providing City/District services to the public.
NO
W, THEREFORE, THE CITY COUNCIL OF THE CITY OF SIMI VALLEY AND THE BOARD OF DIRECTORS OF VENTURA COUNTY WATERWORKS DISTRICT NO. 8 DO HEREBY RESOLVE AS FOLLOWS:
S
ECTION 1. Pursuant to Government Code section 6159(h)(1) the City Council approves Convenience Fees for Credit Card Payments and Debit Card Payments as set forth below:
S
ECTION 2. The City Council finds and determines that the Convenience Fees approved above do not exceed the actual transactional costs incurred by the City in providing for Credit Card and Debit Card Payments.
S
ECTION 3. The City Manager and Director of Administrative Services are hereby authorized to take all actions necessary to implement and collect the Convenience Fees.
9 S
ECTION 4. The proposed adjustments to the Schedule of Service Charges are hereby approved. The Development fees to be effective May 19, 2023. All other fees effective immediately.
S
ECTION 5. The adjusted fee schedule, attached hereto as Exhibit A, is hereby adopted.
S
ECTION 6. The City Manager /District Manager is hereby authorized to administratively escalate all fixed fees and service charges annually using the Consumer Price Index (CPI) All Urban Consumers - Los Angeles-Long Beach-Anaheim, California, rate for January of the current year until such time as another comprehensive fee study is completed.
S
ECTION 7. The City Manager is hereby authorized to administratively amend those service fees that are directly related to pass -through fees from other governmental agencies.
S
ECTION 8. If any fee set forth in this Resolution or the application thereof to any person or circumstance is held to be invalid, such invalidity shall not affect any other fee or application thereof, and to this end the fees of this Resolution are declared to be severable.
SEC
TION 9. The City Clerk/District Secretary shall certify to the adoption of this resolution and shall cause a certified resolution to be filed in the Office of the City Clerk.
PASSED
and ADOPTED this 3rd day of April 2023.
A
ttest:
___
____________________________ ________________________________ Lucy Blanco, City Clerk/ Fred D. Thomas, Mayor of the City of District Secretary Simi Valley, California / Chair of Ventura County Waterworks District No. 8
A
pproved as to Form: Approves as to Content:
___
____________________________ ________________________________ David L. Caceres, City Attorney/ Brian Paul Gabler, City Manager / District Counsel District Manager
___
_____________________________
Carolyn Johnson,
Administrative Services Director
FEE NAME JUSTIFICATION AMOUNT
Convenience Fee Recover the credit card costs that are charged to the City for customers that use credit cards. 3.25% Voluntary Lot Merger Requires a Certificate of Compliance and takes the same staff time $1,026.63 Communication Site License / Lease Agreement This fee is currently available for Waterworks District No. 8 site lease agreements. Staff would like to have this fee available for telecommunication site leases on City facilities, including City owned street lights. $3,782.93 Administrative Processing Fee
Admin Citations/Civil Fees for Ventura County Animal Services (VCAS)to recoup processing cost with outside vendor, VCAS and City Staff $38.87
Homebuyer Assistance Application Fee
Fee to be charged upon complete application submission – incomplete applications will not be processed until all documents received and fee paid. Applicable only to households with more than 80% Area Median Income. $274.08 Homebuyer Assistance Loan Processing Fee This fee will only be charged upon initial income qualification and pursuing an actual loan. Applicable only to households with more than 80% Area Median Income. $460.71 $247.51/hr
Two hour min.
$247.51/hr
Two hour min.
Request for Proposals (RFP) Preparation Fee is to recover costs associated with staff preparing the RFP for projects that would require an EIR or consultant prepared environmental review ($2,327 x 7.5% CPI = $2,501.53)
Lot Merger-Certificate of Compliance Update title to include “Voluntary Lot Merger” This is a new application category that is equivalent to the Lot Merger processing fee
No Change
Sign Permit Remove the decal charge from the fee schedule; no longer issuing decals Remove Temporary Use Permit (TUP) Clean Up Deposit Staff collects a refundable cleanup deposit for TUP. It is recommended that the published deposit fee be increased from $1,000 to “$1,500 minimum” to ensure cleanup of sites after temporary events (such as Christmas tree lots) $1,500 deposit Initial Environmental Study Add 3rd Party Preparation/Review 1,811.38 Negative Declaration Add: **Plus any outside costs, State or Local County Fees, and 10% of contract costs And $15,000 deposit
Mitigated Negative Declaration This fee is being added to allow for consultant preparation of non-EIR environmental documents. With elimination of dedicated Environmental Planners form the Department of Environmental Services, the City has the option of using consultants to prepare these more-complex documents (that are not EIRs) to help expedite development applications and ensure the reports are legally defensible.
Initial Environmental Study
Negative Declaration
Mitigated Negative Declaration
Landscape Plan Review/Inspection
Add “Tree Report Review” to the title as staff uses the same fee deposit and consultant for both the tree report and the landscape plan reviews and inspections. Also, change the Landscape Plan Review deposit from $1,000 to $2,500 min (leaving the 1.5% estimate and 10% contract management language intact. $2,500
Modifications Copy the Modification charge (found under Conditional Use Permit to Planned Development Permit section and label as “Modification to existing Planned Development Permit” Fee remains the same No Change Temporary Sign Permit
Add “Same Year Renewal Fee (Per application)”. With Energov, staff issues one Temporary Sign Permit per year when requested by a business or other entity. This permit may be used for up to eight periods in the calendar year, which may result in sign changes (e.g. size, location, wording changes based on the nature of the promotion). This requires staff to update the permit when the new information is submitted. The time spent is similar to submitting the Face Change sign permit and should match that fee
$37.63
In addition to existing fee of $1,053.50, add deposit and “*plus 10% of contract cost for contract management” This fee is to cover peer review of the Economic Cost Benefit Analysis for Pre-Screening applications for Commercial/Industrial General Plan Amendment Pre-Screening requests.
Permit Plan Check Extension. When original permit has not expired. Fee amount is updated in line with current Building Permit Issuance Fee $63.42 Changes to Permit When original permit has not expired. Fee amount is updated in line with current Building Permit Issuance Fee $63.42 Request for Substitution of Alternate Method or
Materials Fee is the same as the current hourly Building Plan Check Fee Application for Unreasonable Hardship
Exceptions to Disabled Access Requirements Fee is the same as the current hourly Building Plan Check Fee Civic Center Permit Application fee for an entitlement for a project within the Civic Center Zoning District. It is equivalent to a Planned Development (PD) or Conditional Use Permit (CUP) Fee
$2,500 deposit
Refer to fees
listed under
Planned
Development
and Conditional
Use Permit
Environmental Impact Report/ Environmental
Review – Request for Proposal Preparation $2,501.53
Tree Removal Permit Add asterisk to Developer Requested amount for per tree charge No Change Proposed Adjustments to the Schedule of Service Charges Economic Development Analysis Review $10,000 deposit
ENVIRONMENTAL SERVICES - BUILDING & SAFETY
ENVIRONMENTAL SERVICES - PLANNING
CITY ADMINISTRATION
PUBLIC WORKS
ENVIRONMENTAL SERVICES - CODE ENFORCEMENT
ENVIRONMENTAL SERVICES - HOUSING
Add asterisk to Major amount and move “*Plus any State or Local County Fees” below Major No Change Development Agreement Annual Review Add: Charges are at the fully allocated hourly rate for all involved personnel and outside costs, plus 10% of contract cost for contract management
EXHIBIT A
10