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REQUEST FOR COUNCIL ACTION Date: 1/12/2004 Item No: 4. Department Approval: Manager Approved: Agenda Section: Worlcsession Item Description: Considerationof Establishing a Fee Schedule Background As the Council is aware, the City has established a number of fees and charges to offset the costs associated with regulating and enforcing a variety of activities that impact the health, safety, and welfare of the community. These fees are established in a number of fashions including City Code, resolutions, and administrative policies. To ensure that all regulatory-type fees are properly identified and periodically reviewed, Staff is recommendingthe Council adopt a new practice in establishing these fees. The current system is somewhat inconsistent, and in the case of those fees that are set by City Code, unnecessary publishing and meeting costs are incurred to malce even a small revision. Staff is submitting for consideration, the establishmentof a fee schedule. Discussion Items The presence of a fee schedule will allow all regulatory-type fees to be easily identified in one document, as opposed to being scattered throughout City Code and various resolutions. In addition, a fee schedule could be adopted by resolution on an annual basis providing the Council the opportunity to review fees for services in a comprehensive manner. A fee schedule is also flexible enough to be revised periodically throughout the year to accommodate any changing laws and regulations. To provide the greatest flexibility and ease of administration, Staff is suggesting that all fee amounts established in City Code be removed and replaced with a reference to the Fee Schedule. This would require a public hearing to do so, but the changes could be made in an all- encompassmg manner. The Council should be aware that there is some general-public sentiment that regulatory fees ought to be established and maintained by City Code, which is our current practice. This is based on the premise that fees should be established only after careful consideration, and that by requiring them to be accounted for in City Code requires more scrutiny by the Council. Staff agrees with this underlining principle but remain confident that sufficient discipline and internal controls are in place to prevent regulatory fees from being assessed without prior discussion and approval by the Council.