HomeMy WebLinkAbout7/2/2024 Item 7a, Martin
Alan Martin <
To:E-mail Council Website
Subject:Item 7a City User Fees
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Good Afternoon,
My name is Alan Martin and I am a resident of San Luis Obispo.
I have had a running email dialogue with Debbie Malicoat regarding the User Fee Agenda item. First let me
state that Debbie was more than helpful and patient in answering all of my questions. As a group, city staff has
been extremely helpful in answering my questions on different Agenda Items over the past several weeks. I
just wanted you to know that City Staff is doing a great job in dealing with your constituency.
My original question was in regards to the Tree Removal Permit fee as it is slated to increase from $176 to
$661. I was trying to understand why such a huge increase was warranted. In her last email, Debbie stated:
"The hourly rate of $119.38 to $259.35 reflects a wide range of staff – from administrative positions all the
way up to the City Attorney and City Manager, but the average is about $200 per hour when all costs are
included."
While I understand that a lot of items get thrown into the indirect costs in determining the individual user
fees, that $200 per hour average seems quite high.
My thoughts for your consideration:
1. Is it possible to see an audit for an individual fee like the Tree Removal Permit Fee to see how the
indirect costs are calculated to come up with the $220 per hour fee calculation (I was told that the Tree
Removal Permit requires 3 hours).
2. Would you consider NOT including the annual CPI increase to these fees as most of them are being
increased substantially already? This would give a respite for a period of time without having to endure
even more increases.
3. I would also ask that you would consider not accepting all of these fee increases and have City Staff
work on increased collection of the current fees to close down this perceived loss of revenue due to
the fees being too low.
Thank you in advance for your time and attention,
Alan
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