Ordinance of the City Council of the City of Rocklin Repealing and Replacing Section 3.32.050 of the Rocklin Municipal Code Related to the Establishment of Service Fees

Introduce, waive further reading and read by title only, an Ordinance of the City Council of the City of Rocklin Repealing and Reenacting Section 3.32.050 of the Rocklin Municipal Code Related to the Establishment of Service Fees.

Every year the City conducts a Fee Study for service fees. The Fee Study consists of staff reviewing all service fees and updating them as needed to recover the cost of providing the service. Although no Fee Study was conducted in 2020 due to COVID-19, the Fee Study is now established as an annual process. It is important to conduct the Fee Study annually to ensure that those parties that personally benefit from City services pay the full cost of the service. Paying less than the full cost effectively transfers the cost of service to the City’s General Fund.

The Ordinance establishes the services that the City provides for a fee. Staff proposes to update the Ordinance in order to update the list of fees. The updated Ordinance lists eleven (11) new fee titles and eliminates seven (7) existing fee titles. The changes will lead to a fee schedule that more closely matches the delivery of services.

The amount charged for services are established by a Resolution that will be presented for City Council approval on October 26, 2021. A full draft of the Resolution is attached to this staff report. It is being provided at this time to allow sufficient time for review and feedback. The methodology used to determine the fees is set in Article XIIIB of the California Constitution, which states that fees charged cannot be higher than the “costs reasonably borne” by the City. Additionally, the law requires that         1) use of the service must be voluntary, and 2) fees must be reasonably related to the services provided. The fundamental purpose of service fees is to reduce subsidies from the general fund for the cost of services that do not benefit the whole community.

In order to meet the legal requirements for service fees, the fee amounts are developed by a detailed analysis to determine the cost to provide each service based on the time spent by every City staffer involved in providing the service. Staff determines the “Fully Burdened Hourly Rate” of every City position. This rate includes salary, benefits and direct and indirect overhead expenses based on the City’s Fiscal Year 2021/22 Budget. Staff from the appropriate department provide the time spent by each staff member to complete their part of a fee task.

Although the exact number of each fee service provided is unknown, the Fee Study is a mechanism to ensure the continued recovery of costs for specific programs and services.