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The San Juan Bautista City Council postponed a vote on a new public services fee schedule on May 19 after council members and several members of the public voiced concerns that the proposed increases had not yet been fully discussed or considered.
The council voted unanimously to take the matter up again at a May 26 study session, which was originally intended to address the city budget, then bring it to a vote at the next regular city council meeting on June 16.
The fee schedule, examined in depth in a previous BenitoLink article, was prepared by Matrix Consulting to address shortfalls between the actual cost of city services and the city’s current charges by analyzing 214 line items across all city departments.
In her third presentation to the council, Matrix Vice President Khushboo Ingle again explained the methodology of the study: calculating the total average time spent by staff on a given fee-related task and multiplying that by the “fully burdened rate,” a reckoning of costs based on employee salary, benefits, productive hours, city costs and any other overhead.
The city is constrained by California law, she said, from setting fees for services above actual costs, which would be interpreted as a tax increase, though it can set fees above costs for permits for things such as the use of city property, such as park or facility rentals, which are considered voluntary transactions.
In the proposed schedule, only 26 of the 241 items were left unchanged, with 12 showing a reduction. There are 105 fees marked as “modified” or with a numeric increase, and 71 marked as “new”—a total of 188 changes.
Scott Freels set the tone of the evening as the first council member to comment on the schedule.
“I get it,” he said, “A lot of large cities have these fees, but I didn’t even know some of them even existed. I’m still digesting this and not ready to make a decision. I’m concerned about the increases. It’s rough, and I’d like more time.”
Freels highlighted other fees, such as the $50-per-hour charge for use of the Abbe Park baseball field, higher rates for yard sale permits, and a rental increase to $843 for the Community Center.
Some fees were considered too low by the council. Councilmember Jackie Morris-Lopez suggested an increase in film permit fees and Mayor Leslie Jordan asked about an increase in vacancy fees.
During public comment, Planning Commissioner Chris Martorana objected to the 100% cost recovery model for some city services, echoing Freels’ comments about the fee for renting the baseball field.
“Things like that,” he said, “are a public benefit, so we probably want to subsidize that. And there’s plenty of other fees in there. Everything that’s listed here is full cost recovery. I don’t think anybody really intended for that to be the case.”
Martorana pointed out that a public workshop on the fees, scheduled for May 12, had been canceled and suggested that another public workshop be arranged before any vote is taken.
“This is covering an awful lot of territory,” he said, “to have a fairly short amount of time to review and make comments. I have a ton of questions. I think you have another step you’re missing here, and I don’t think you can pass this at all tonight.”
Resident Cara Vonk expressed concern about fees for work related to the historic homes in town, saying she had paid $1,500 to have a review of a home by an architectural historian, a fee that has since increased to $2,500.
She also challenged the new $7,000 fee for appeals to city decisions, saying, “It’s really, in my book, prohibitive.”
Resident Michael Ponce began his comment by pointing out that under the fee schedule reports summary of results, it said that policy decisions would be made only by the City Council with input from city staff and the community.
The three minutes that were allowed under the rules for public comment at the meeting, Ponce said, were insufficient to discuss the changes in any depth.
“I agree that we should have another meeting where the community is invited,” he said. “To look at over 200 fees in three minutes? Nobody could come up here and question any of the fees. A few people ahead of me have already been trying to do that.”
Following public comment, the council members’ final remarks leaned heavily toward holding an open workshop meeting before a decision was made.
“I don’t want to approve this tonight,” Morris-Lopez said, “without an opportunity to have a structured, very fair, and transparent meeting with the public.”
Related stories
San Juan City Council hears presentations on wastewater issues
Report proposes new fee schedule for San Juan services
PDF of the Matrix report and the proposed San Juan Bautista Fee Schedule
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