City Council Minutes 2018 08 07 - Laserfiche WebLink

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City Council Meeting Minutes August 7, 2018 Page 13 of 17 2. Are current fees aligned with costs 3. How do we compare to other jurisdictions 4. Considerations for adjusting fees in the future The review of the costs included personnel, consultants, vehicles, facilities, operations, insurance, and software. We reviewed how fees are collected and the fee table and compared costs to other jurisdictions. Building Permit Fee Review Findings and Recommendations: • Current fees aligned with costs: • Fees within range of other regional jurisdictions • No immediate adjustments to fees recommended — consider inflationary adjustments • New technology should improve customer service and efficiency, but could increase costs Councilmember Loo stated it was good to know our costs are right in the ballpark with everyone else. Councilmember Maloney asked Finance Director Watson if he had reviewed and had confidence in the numbers. Director Watson stated he did review the methodology and it did appear reasonable. Councilmember Maloney stated we need to be covering our costs and that is our fiduciary duty. He asked if building fee incentives on a BAP (Business Assistance Package) are collected and refunded. Director Watson stated we book the gross revenue and have offsetting accounts for the BAP payment revenue so we can look at both the gross and the net amounts. Councilmember Maloney stated we are reducing revenue to cover the costs of building fees with BAPs and philosophically he has an issue with that. There should be a funding source identified, likely the General Fund, that is not reducing building revenues. Mayor Muckle agreed and said the scale of the effect on building revenues is also useful information. Councilmember Stolzmann agreed revenue for BAPs should be accounted for somehow without charging other permit pullers. Mayor Pro Tem Lipton agreed BAPs need to be accounted for another way. He would like more analysis of the BAPs and their impact on the fees, perhaps this is the wrong source of revenue for this. Councilmember Stolzmann suggested the Finance Committee address the BAP questions before fees are set this year. City Manager Balser will bring that back for specific direction.