5. Staff Report-Master Fee Schedule
Staff Report
Date of Meeting: September 3, 2014
To: City Council
From: Kristina Handt, Administrator
Colleen Firkus, Treasurer
Re: Master Fee Schedule
Background:
Many cities adopt a Master Fee Schedule each year. This is something the auditor routine asks
for from City staff. Currently, Scandia does not have a Master Fee Schedule. Instead each fee is
contained within each ordinance or policy.
Issue:
Should the Council adopt a Master Fee Schedule?
Proposal Details:
Having a Master Fee Schedule is a common practice and an easy way for the Council to review
fees annually and make changes by updating one ordinance instead of many.
Included in your packet is a draft Master Fee Schedule the Treasurer has prepared. It takes the
fees we have set in ordinance or policies and puts them in one document. The areas in red are
areas staff is proposing further discussion on.
Under Administration and Services a new fee proposed is the Non-sufficient Fund Check Fee.
This is modeled after other communities’ fee schedule.
Under Administration Licenses and Permits, garbage hauler license is in red. Although New
Scandia Township adopted this ordinance, the fee has not been collected for the last decade or
so. The Council should consider if they want to retain this ordinance and fee or not. The
recommendation from the County and consultant we met with regarding recycling was to keep
this and follow it. If there is ever damage done by a garbage hauler in the City, this is an
important tool to have.
Staff is proposing to adopt language similar to Forest Lake’s for building permits but still retain
Scandia’s ordinance as an exhibit A. The advantage of the Forest Lake ordinance is that it
identifies some set fees for smaller projects such as decks, fencing, siding, roof, swimming pool,
and window or door replacement. Additionally, the language more clearly explains the Plan
Review fee. This language is included in our agreement with Forest Lake and found in
ordinance no. 106. However, since the valuation amounts were amended in ordinance no. 114,
the public only looks at that ordinance to estimate their charges. We’ve had residents upset and
argue over the amount of their fee because they thought it was just those items based in the
valuation contained in ordinance no. 114. Another plug for codification???
Staff is proposing some changes to the Planning and Zoning section to cover the costs incurred
by the City for some reviews by consultants. First, staff is proposing to increase the cost of a
Grading/Land Alteration permit to $325. Based on the charges from Bolton and Menk last year
to review two grading permits that were $312.50 and $375 respectively. Staff is also
recommending an escrow be added fro Lot Line Adjustments or Lot Consolidations. The current
$50 fee will cover staff’s time to review however, the City incurs legal fees to review and
approve before the adjustment can be recorded at the county. Fees from Eckberg Lammers
ranged from $75 to $300 per application based on the complexity of the parcels involved. Staff is
proposing a $250 escrow to cover these fees. Any amounts not charged would be refunded to the
applicant. Lastly, in this area staff is proposing to increase the fee for a Cell Tower
Administrative permit to $250. This would cover the planner’s fee related to the review of the
application.
The next change staff is proposing based on a review of other communities’ fee schedules, is to
include language that applications that require an excessive amount of staff time would be billed
at 2.5 times the hourly payroll rate for staff and the actual rate for consultant time.
The documents section is consistent with the City’s Data Practices policies although the charge
for staff time hasn’t been updated in a couple years so an increase is proposed to $26.75 which is
reflective of the Deputy Clerks hourly wage including benefits.
The next new section proposed by staff is related to public works. It’s important to have these
fees documented in case of a natural disaster. If the City were to seek funds to reimburse for the
cost of clean up after a natural disaster, FEMA would need to see the fee schedule for the use of
equipment. The proposed amounts are based off of a review of other communities. Staff also
used the current wages and benefits for the public works staff to estimate an operator charge.
The last section staff is proposing some changes is to the water fee charged to Elim and
Gammelgarden. The fees have not been adjusted since the agreement went into place in 2001.
Staff is proposing an increase equal to the increase in CPI since the agreement was made. The
new rates would be $16.95 for the first 5,000 gallons and $2.19 per thousand thereafter.
Fiscal Impact:
The proposed changes would mainly just cover costs incurred by the City. Since we are
planning to net the Planning and Zoning expenses, these changes are very important to ensure
that most of the cost related to a specific application is born by the applicant, not the taxpayer.
Staff does not anticipate any change to the proposed levy based on these recommendations.
Options:
1) Direct staff to work with the City Attorney on the proper procedure for adopting a master
fee schedule
2) Continue to keep the fees in individual ordinances
Recommendation:
Option 1.