Laserfiche WebLink
<br />1 <br />Executive Summary <br />General Study Overview <br />User and Regulatory Fees <br />The City derives its annual revenue from a number of sources. These include, but are not limited to, <br />property taxes, sales taxes, franchise fees, fines, rents, and user and regulatory fees. User and <br />regulatory fees are intended to cover all, or a portion of, the costs incurred by the City for providing fee- <br />related services and activities that are not otherwise provided to those not paying the fee. California <br />law provides guidance regarding the amounts the City may charge for fee-related services and activities. <br />Specifically, in order to avoid being considered taxes, the fees charged shall not exceed the estimated <br />reasonable cost of providing the services, activities, or materials for which fees are charged. <br /> <br />Recovering the Costs of Providing Fee-Related Services Directly Influences the City’s Fiscal Soundness <br />Fairly allocating costs to the services provided and recovering some, or all, of these costs from service <br />recipients creates value and predictability for City customers and reimburses the City for services <br />provided to a single party, as compared to the public at large. <br /> <br />Community Development Department staff intend to implement a practice of annual review and <br />adjustment of fees. Implementing this practice will provide multiple benefits, including: <br /> Increase the availability of General Fund revenues to be used for services and activities available <br />to all San Leandro residents and businesses, such as public safety services. <br /> Help meet the service level expectations of the development community by collecting revenues <br />to fund the services provided by the department. <br /> Keep pace with general cost inflation. <br /> Avoid fee spikes that are more likely to occur when fees are left unchanged for several years. <br /> Provide fee payers, city staff, and city policymakers with a pattern of consistency that provides <br />information for forecasting and decision-making purposes. <br /> Encourage generational equity among fee payers by avoiding long-term stagnation of fees <br />followed by significant fee increases. <br /> Provide enhanced revenue tracking information to allow for efficient identification of amounts <br />collected on behalf of other agencies or for specific purposes. <br /> <br />Fee Categories that Were Examined in this Study <br />This study specifically examined the following categories of fees: <br /> Building Fees, such as construction permit processing, plan check, and inspection <br /> Planning Fees, such as entitlement review and review for compliance with the zoning code <br /> Fire Prevention Fees, such as plan check and inspection of new construction, fire sprinkler <br />systems, and fire alarm systems. <br />13