Politics & Government
City Council Discussing A Slew of Fee Changes
From false burglar alarms to pawn shop permit fees, most of the scores of fees would take effect July 1.
By Katherine Hafner
The Los Altos City Council is slated tonight to adopt the city’s fiscal year fee schedule pending discussion among members – including some changes for city residents.
The 2013-14 fee schedule includes almost 90 different fees, filed under different categories including community development, police and public works.
Find out what's happening in Los Altoswith free, real-time updates from Patch.
While most of the fees in the new schedule have long been in place, a few fees in particular are recent additions.
The first is an electric vehicle charging fee, set at $1 per hour. The council voted to instate the charging fee in February of this year, according to the resolution. The council aims to continue the fee at this price into the new fiscal year.
Find out what's happening in Los Altoswith free, real-time updates from Patch.
Other newer fees include a $275 application fee for miscellaneous police permits, a $200 fee when filing a city initiative and a $0.10 charge for reproducing a document that is Fair Political Practices Commission-related.
Fee increases across the board are fairly benign, said Russell Morreale, finance director for the city of Los Altos.
Here are some of the more significant fee changes, if approved:
False alarm police responses: free responses lowered from three to two; cost on subsequent time increased from $215 to $220 per response
Alcohol permit: fee raised from $65 to $70
DUI accident response: fee for police raised from $1,115 to $1,190; for fire department raised from $1,315 to $1,390
Massage establishment permit: fee raised from $265 to $275
Second response call-back: standard and juvenile alcohol party response fees raised from $550 to $585
Pawn shop/secondhand dealer permit: fee raised from $225 to $245
New special event permit application: fee raised from $1,600 to $2,045
Business license duplicate: raised from $5 to $15 per request
Document certification: lowered from $40 to $25 per certification
See the full fee schedule here.
Morreale said the resolution is still a discussion item tonight, in case members of the public or council raise concerns, and that the fee schedule could potentially change before final approval.
At its June meeting, a majority of council also expressed support for eliminating a “block party” fee. The council is set to formally eliminate this cost under the new fee schedule.
The council has discussed the potential to increase the park-in-lieu and traffic impact fees, both established by state law, according to the resolution. Proposed changes to these fees are to be presented at an upcoming council meeting.
Councilmembers also stipulate they want to reevaluate the community development fees over the course of the fiscal year.
When adopted, the new schedule takes effect on July 1, at the start of the fiscal year – except for a few fees that begin Aug. 24.Another fee currently being discussed among city authorities is the introduction of an annual base charge for sewer usage, accompanied by adjustments to the current per-unit use rate charge.
A public hearing about the proposed sewer charge is to be held on July 9 at 7 p.m. in the Community Meeting Chambers.Get more local news delivered straight to your inbox. Sign up for free Patch newsletters and alerts.
