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Citrus Heights Messenger

New Mayor and Vice Mayor Chosen

Dec 19, 2019 12:00AM ● By Story by Shaunna Boyd

Jeff Slowey, new Mayor of Citrus Heights. Photo courtesy City of Citrus Heights

New Mayor and Vice Mayor Chosen [2 Images] Click Any Image To Expand

City Council Approves Increases to User Fees

CITRUS HEIGHTS, CA (MPG) - Each December, the Citrus Heights City Council selects the members who will serve as the new mayor and vice mayor for the next calendar year. At the meeting on December 12, Mayor Bruins thanked all the Councilmembers for their support over the last year. She then nominated Vice Mayor Jeff Slowey to take on the role of mayor for the 2020 term and Councilmember Steve Miller to serve as vice mayor. Both appointments were passed unanimously by the Council, and Councilmember Bruins officially passed the gavel to Mayor Slowey.

The Council also heard a presentation regarding proposed updates to the City’s user fees and the establishment of the first citywide Master Fee Schedule.

The City of Citrus Heights receives tax revenue that benefits citizens by supporting city services such as public safety, streets and infrastructure, and general administration. The City also receives user fees, which are defined as discretionary and benefitting a specific citizen rather than the community as a whole. For these services, the City’s General Fund subsidizes any amount not covered by the user fee.

The last time the City reviewed and updated the user fees was in 2005, so the City contracted with Matrix Consulting Group in April 2019 to analyze user fees and identify the actual cost of providing these services based on staff time and service volume. Based on the analysis, the recommendation was to adjust some fees to reflect current costs and several new fees were also recommended.

The Police Department collects various fees for services such as police reports, subpoenas, towing and traffic services, fingerprint and alarm services, and animal services. User fees currently cover just 48% of the actual costs of service, with an estimated $300,000 subsidized by the General Fund. Staff recommended increases to administrative, vehicle release, unruly gathering, and animal impound fees. No changes were recommended for alarm fees or animal licensing fees. Some new fees were recommended for the Police Department: ticket sign-off fee ($16), vehicle tow hearing fee ($83), Office of Personnel Management background check fee ($25), non-home animal quarantine fee (actual cost), registration fee for vicious/dangerous animals (no more than $300), fee for appeal of decision to destroy a vicious animal ($75), and a refundable deposit for use of traps.

Permit fees through the Building Department are currently paid at about 49% by the user fees, with an estimated $1.2 million subsidized by the General Fund. The proposed adjustments will increase the flat rate permit fees to 75% of the actual cost of service with a gradual increase to 90% of actual cost over the next three years.

The Planning Division currently collects user fees at 67% of actual cost for services such as use permits, maps, design and environmental review, and business licenses. The recommendation was to increase the fees to a rate comparable to other agencies while trying to minimize the impact on residents and small businesses. For the issuance of business licenses, the recommendation was to adjust the fee to the actual cost of service.

The Engineering Division is already recovering most of its costs through user fees, so the proposed changes in this department focus on simplifying and streamlining operations.

In the Facilities Department, no changes were recommended for the Community Center use fee, but staff asked for authority to approve annual inflationary adjustments starting in January 2021.

The Finance Department fee for multiple returned checks by the same issuer is recommended to increase from $25 to $32.

No changes were recommended for fees charged by the City Clerk’s Office.

The new user fees would become effective on January 1, 2020, adding an estimated $600,000 to the General Fund each year.

Mayor Slowey opened the public hearing, and one resident said that the user fee increases come as “quite a shock.” He said mandatory permits such as those for replacing a broken hot water heater or other necessary home repairs shouldn’t even be subject to fees because the City should be encouraging citizens to comply with safety regulations. He also said that rather than increasing fees to recover costs, the City should instead be looking at ways to cut costs within their own departments. His statement was followed by a burst of applause from the audience.

Councilmember Bruins agreed that replacing a broken hot water heater isn’t discretionary and that homeowners shouldn’t be “unduly burdened.” She said, “In a time of crisis, there’s no discretionary decision about whether or not to replace your water heater. You have to do it.” Councilmember Bruins assured the audience that the increase for that permit fee was cut from the proposal, so the fee will remain unchanged in the Master Fee Schedule.

The new fee schedule will not recoup 100% of the City’s costs, but to increase fees any further would be “burdensome,” said Councilmember Bruins. “It’s a fine balance. To the extent that we do subsidize it with the General Fund, that just means that that money is not available to us as a City to put into other projects that service our community. So those are the things that we have to grapple with.”

Mayor Slowey said the Council has been remiss in letting the fees remain unchanged for so long, stating that the fee schedule should have been reviewed every few years so that increases could have been introduced gradually. He doesn’t like that taxpayers (through General Fund monies) must subsidize improvements that do not benefit the entire community, but he agreed that trying to recover 100% of the user fee costs would be too burdensome on residents. He said that the proposed increases reflect “a happy medium.”

The Council unanimously voted to approve the proposed adjustments to the user fees and established the Master Fee Schedule.