REPORT TO THE CITY COUNCIL
November 8, 2018
FROM: WILMA QUAN-SCHECTER, City Manager
THROUGH: HENRY FIERRO, Budget Manager
Budget and Management Studies Division
BY: SHARON MCDOWELL, Senior Budget Analyst
Budget and Management Studies Division
SUBJECT
Title
***RESOLUTION - 546th Amendment to the Master Fee Schedule (MFS) Resolution No. 80-420 to Add, Adjust, Revise or Delete Various Fees (Subject to Mayor’s veto)
Body
RECOMMENDATION
It is recommended that the Council approve the 546th Amendment to the MFS Resolution No. 80-420.
EXECUTIVE SUMMARY
The attached resolution to adopt the 546th Amendment to the Master Fee Schedule (MFS) Resolution No. 80-420 addresses fee changes, and annual routine revisions to the following sections of the MFS: Airports; Convention Center; Finance, General Government, Parks, After School, Recreation and Community Services (PARCS); Planning and Development (DARM); Police; Public Utilities; Public Works; and Transportation.
BACKGROUND
The annual revision of the MFS is being presented at this time to enable adjustments approved by Council to be incorporated into the planning of next year’s budget. Staff will proceed with estimating revenues for FY 2020 based on the adoption of these updates to the schedule. The following narrative details the proposed fee adjustments by MFS section and then goes on to detail those fees impacting multiple sections.
Finance: A new permit fee of $25 is being added under the Business Tax and Permit Fees section to recover the administrative costs of permit issuance on Shared Mobility Devices. This fee will only become effective upon passage of the Shared Mobility Device Ordinance.
General Government: Proposed changes to the General Government section of the MFS include 13 fee increases, five fee decreases, the addition of nine new fees, the deletion of three fees and various text changes. The bulk of the fee changes are related to City Hall Rental Rates and the Additional Services for City Hall Rentals.
• The current City Hall Rental Rates have been in effect since the fees were initially added to the MFS in 1992. This MFS revision adjusts these rates to reflect the current hourly rates as determined by square footage. In addition to adjusting the rental rates, an additional six meeting rooms and the Fourth Floor Lobby are being added to the rooms available for rent. Two meeting rooms previously offered are now restricted, therefore their associated fees are being deleted.
• Also updated are the ancillary services associated with City Hall Rental Rates. Additional Services pertain to costs incurred by the City in excess of ordinary ongoing services provided during normal operating hours or those additional services requested by the renting party such as the use on the City’s portable public announcement (PA) system. Often times, City Hall facilities are rented in the evenings or weekends and require the services of after-hours custodial and/or security staff. Essentially, these fees allow the City to pass through these additional costs to the party renting the facilities. Hourly fees increasing include: Custodian, Security Guard, Property Maintenance Worker, set up of the PA System, and set-up of the Multi-Media Presentation System. The hourly rate for the Property Maintenance Worker is going down. An additional fee associated with staffing of an After Hours City Hall Access Point is being added, and the fee for Building Maintenance job class is being deleted as this class is no longer used.
• The Stadium APES fee is being increased $0.05 to $1.55 consistent with the terms of the Third Amendment to the Amended and Restated Stadium Sublease Agreement.
• One of the proposed new fees under the General Government Section is the Stadium Special Event Parking Fee. This fee that will be charged at City sponsored special events held at Chukchansi Stadium and is consistant with the $7 Special Event Parking Fee included in the Parking section of the MFS.
PARCS: PARCS is proposing eleven fee increases, seven are contractual, and the deletion of one duplicate fee.
• Riverside Municipal Golf Course Green Fees are being adjusted per the lease agreement, with the increase based on the June 2018 CPI. Eight of the eleven fee increases relate to these fees. The cumulative increase totals 4.16 percent. These fees will be effective January 1, 2019.
• To allow for full cost recovery, the Department is proposing CPR and First Aid Instructional Classes be renamed to reflect Lifeguarding/CPR, First Aid and Professional Rescue, the actual course now being offered. In addition to changing the fee name, PARCS is also proposing the fee be increased to $200 to cover staffing and supplies costs. Previously the courses offered were a one day Standard CPR and First Aid certification courses in a classroom setting. The course now being offered is a two and a half day comprehensive certification course covering Lifeguarding, CPR, First Aid and Professional Rescue, complete with in-pool training. Those individuals taking the course for recertification purposes will pay a reduced rate of $125. Both fees will be effective January 1, 2019.
• The APES Fee for Memorial Auditorium was inadvertently omitted when Citywide APES Fees were last adjusted. This fee is being increased from the initial $0.75 fee to $1.00 consistent with other APES Fees within the PARCS and Airports Departments.
• Also proposed is the deletion of the duplicate Event staff fee under the Special Pool Rental fees. Event staff fees are already included under General Recreation Fees.
DARM (Planning & Development fees): DARM is proposing the addition of three new fees and the reformatting of the Fish and Game Filing Fees.
• In February 2017 the City enacted the Rental Housing Improvement Act. At that point in time, the MFS was updated to include a Rental Housing Health and Safety Inspection Fee. As part of the annual revision, DARM is proposing the addition of a $100 Compliance Re-Inspection Fee and a $50 Pre-Compliance Re-Inspection Fee. For those rental units that do not pass the initial-inspection, a written correction notice is issued containing a scheduled re-inspection date and time by which violations must be corrected. Property owners who are timely and ready for re-inspection at least seven days prior to their scheduled compliance re-inspection date can request a Pre-Compliance Re-Inspection at a reduced rate of $50.
• Another new fee being proposed by DARM is a Policy of Insurance of Record, or PIRT, Fee under the Code Enforcement Fees. When a Code Enforcement Lien is being cleared, the title company will charge $100 to search property ownership. DARM is proposing the addition of a new fee to allow this charge to be passed on to the party clearing the lien on the property.
• Also included are adjustments to the Fish and Game Filing Fees for Environmental Assessments and Environmental Impact Reports. While the City collects these fees, they are set by and ultimately passed through to the State. In the past, these fees have been updated annually to reflect the applicable fees required as reflected on the California Department of Fish and Wildlife website. Instead of updating the fee with the specific dollar amount this year, the Department is proposing the reformatting of the fee to reflect a reference indicating that the fee charged will be the “Current fee as reflected on the Department of Fish and Wildlife website.” This will eliminate the need for this fee to be updated annually.
Police: The Police Department is proposing addition of Parade Route Policing fees consistent with the Parade and Other Special Event Ordinance passed by Council on June 26, 2018. Eight new fees are proposed corresponding to anticipating staffing levels of the each of the pre-established parade routes. Pre-established routes include: Downtown Loop, Fulton Loop, Olive/Hedges Loop, O Street Loop, Olive Route, City Hall Loop, China Town Route, and the Mariposa Route.
Public Utilities (Water Division): The Water Division is proposing adjustments to eight fees. These fees are adjusted annually to reflect the current cost of service and materials. Fees being adjusted include: Fire Hydrant Damage Repair fee; Blind Washer Installation; Blind Washer Removal; Service Disconnection; Service Restoration; After Hours Turn On Service; the Underground Utility Remark fee; and the Three Inch Fire Hydrant Meter Testing and Cleaning Fee.
Public Works: Public Works is proposing fee revisions under the Engineering, Inspection, and Street Work section as well as the Parking section. Changes in these sections include:
Engineering, Inspection, and Street Work: Public Works is proposing the restructuring of three fees, the increase of two existing surcharges, an increase of the Street Work Inspection Fee for Public Utilities, and the addition of three new surcharges.
• For FY 2020, Public Works is proposing the current Street Work Inspection Permit Processing Fee be restructured from the existing $20 fee to the Street Work Inspection Permit Processing Fee Level 1 ($65) and Level 2 ($140). The fee is being split in order to take into account the varying levels of complexity associated with processing the permits. A Level 1 permit does not include any associated drawings or plans and a Level 2 permit includes associated drawings or plans, documents required for submittal, and verification of items including; insurance approval, fees, off-site right-of-way dedications, public utility and pedestrian easements, etc.
• Also proposed is an adjustment of the existing permit processing fee for Street Work Inspection for Public Utilities. The current fee is proposed to be restructured from the existing $20 fee to a Level 2 Permit Processing Fee of $140 consistent with the Level 2 Processing Fee described above.
• Surcharges for not obtaining a permit for both Street Work Inspection and Street Work Inspection--Public Utilities are proposed to be raised from “Twice the amount of the permit or $500 whichever is greater” to $1,000. The increase of these surcharges is intended to serve as a better determent to improper or unsafe execution of an approved traffic control plan.
• Also proposed is the restructuring of Traffic Control Plan Review Fee. The fee is currently composed of an “In Office” fee of $87 and a “Field Inspection” fee of $298. Public Works is proposing these fees be restructured into three different levels:
o A Level 1 Fee would include minor traffic control plans limited to sidewalk and/or shoulder closures and would $80.
o A Level 2 Fee would include minor traffic control plans including lane closures, lane shifts, residential/local street closures, or flagging operations. This fee would be set at $215.
o A Level 3 Fee would include any major street (classified street) closures and plans that include four (4) or more phases and/or contain multiple sheets for each phase. This fee would be set at $575.
• Three new surcharges associated with traffic control plans are also being proposed. The intent of these surcharges is to provide a mechanism to ensure work in the public right-of-way is done in a safe and permitted manner. For each of new surcharges, the first violation results in a written warning and the surcharge amounts for violations thereafter are as follows:
o Surcharge for not obtaining a traffic control plan (per day) - $1,000
o Surcharge for violating traffic control plan requirements (per day) - $500.
o Surcharge for not having an approved traffic control plan on-site (per day) - $100.
Parking Fees:
Unlike other items in the MFS, the changes proposed by the Parking Division are fines and generally not related to a tangible expense, but rather are designed to discourage behavior that is detrimental to the general public. Many changes proposed by the Parking Division are text changes to increase clarity, removal of duplicate violations, and removal of violations that are no longer applicable.
The City’s overtime/expired meter violation ($33), which is the most common, is lower than many peer cities (Glendale $51 overtime/$48 meter or Santa Ana $48 overtime/$41 meter) and the Division is not requesting a change to that. This violation is intentionally low because it is not intended to severely penalize individuals who make an occasional mistake.
Some key items to note:
ADA Violations:
The Parking Division proposes increasing the ADA space violation from $303 to $350, consistent with peer cities. This violation includes parking without an ADA placard, or blocking/parking in an ADA designated area. The current $303 does not reflect best practices in using the violation amount as a deterrent to parking in these areas for persons with disabilities. Those with valid placards who failed to display are eligible for a reduction to the $25 processing fee pursuant to California Vehicle Code 40226.
The City does not currently have a separate violation for ADA Placard Misuse. This occurs when an individual uses an ADA placard not issued to them. In the past, it was written as an ADA placard violation; this is not an accurate reflection of the severity of the violation. The proposed fee of $500 was selected as it is half the amount of the fine a sworn officer writes for that type of violation ($1,000 misdemeanor).
Safety Violations:
These violations are related to parking situations that jeopardize public safety. In the City’s current citation framework, the differential between an overtime/expired meter violation and the safety violations was insufficient to leverage the penalty to encourage compliance. For example, under the current framework, parking overtime is a $33 violation, but blocking a sidewalk (and corresponding ADA path of travel) is only $43, and blocking a fire hydrant is only $58. For consistency, these are being increased to $100 per violation.
In FY 2018, the following number of violations were issued: 294 for parking in a bike lane, path or zone; seven for parking in a crosswalk; 612 for parking on a sidewalk; 252 for parking less than 15 feet from a fire hydrant; six for parking in divisional island; 216 for parking in such a way as to cause a traffic hazard; and 288 for parking in front of a driveway.
Transit Zone Violation:
The Parking Division proposes increasing this violation from $258 to $500. In correspondence with the City’s priority transit initiatives such as enhanced 15 minute headways and quality of service. Although this violation is issued infrequently (105 citations in FY 2018), it has large impact on riders. Blocking a transit zone can result in riders with mobility issues being unable to disembark safely, impact headways for extended periods of time while buses “catch up” and cause riders to miss transfers.
Transportation: As part of the FY 2018 MFS revisions, the Transportation Department made multiple text changes to make its fee structure consistent with transit industry terminology and the elimination of the use of tokens. With the elimination of the use of tokens fare media, the Department inadvertently eliminated its ability to offer a quantity discount for prepaid fares. For FY 2020, the Department is proposing the addition of four new “Bulk Purchase” rates for prepaid ride cards that re-institutes the discount at the same rates that were previously charged.
APES Fees: When initially adopted the APES fees were only applicable to tickets sold at the Fresno Convention & Entertainment Center, Memorial Auditorium, and each round of golf at the Airways and Riverside Golf Courses. APES fee language is being now adjusted to reflect applicability to ticket sales at all City facilities. This adjustment is reflected in the following sections of the MFS: Airports, Convention Center, General Government and PARCS.
FISCAL IMPACT
The FY 2020 budget will be built on the assumption that the fees contained in the 546th Amendment will be implemented. The effective date of this amendment is July 1, 2019, unless otherwise noted.
Attachment:
546th Amendment to the Master Fee Schedule Resolution
Master Fee Schedule Exhibit A