TO: Mayor and City Council
THROUGH: Keith Stahley, City Manager
FROM: Josh Eggleston, Chief Financial Officer
SUBJECT:
title
Proposed FY 2025 Fee Schedule
Ward(s): All Wards
Councilor(s): All Councilors
Neighborhood(s): All Neighborhoods
Result Area(s): Good Governance
end
SUMMARY:
summary
Each fiscal year, to provide the community with easy accessibility, the City of Salem’s Finance Department produces a fee schedule which consolidates fees from various departments into one document. The fee schedule is adopted annually in June prior to the new fiscal year.
end
ISSUE:
Shall the City Council adopt Resolution No. 2024-26, setting fees and charges for the City of Salem as set forth in Exhibit A to Resolution No. 2024-26?
RECOMMENDATION:
recommendation
Adopt Resolution No. 2024-26, setting fees and charges for the City of Salem as set forth in Exhibit A to Resolution No. 2024-26.
body
FACTS AND FINDINGS:
The City of Salem offers and performs certain services where the cost is borne by those receiving the service. Fees and charges support the direct provision of those services which include lien searches, zoning, site and dwelling plan review, multi-generational recreation opportunities, rights-of-way access, code enforcement, ambulance contracting and fire safety, airport badging, water and sewer accounts, building permitting and inspections, parking rent, apartment licensing and more.
The FY 2025 recommended budget estimates $187.9 million from 75 revenue types and over 1,500 individual fees. In the upcoming fiscal year, revenue generated from fees and charges represent over 20 percent of all budgeted City revenues across all funds. Fees are typically increased based on a market adjustment rate, Consumer Price Index - Urban (CPI-U) All Items West Region rate (December to December change), or Engineering News Record rate (December to December change) unless otherwise noted. The rates for CPI-U and ENR are 3.6 percent and 5.0 percent respectively. The CPI-U has decreased from the prior year by approximately half and the ENR by a third.
Below is a summary of some of the FY 2025 proposed fee changes by document section.
Section 1 - Non - Departmental
• An increase to the City Operations Fee is proposed to occur once on January 1, 2025. This increase is based on the CPI-U December to December year-over-year change which is consistent with prior years' methodology.
The City Operations Fee supports the City's General Fund which pays for ongoing services such as police, fire, parks and recreation, library, land use planning and zoning, code enforcement, municipal court, and internal services like Information Technology, Legal, Finance, and Human Resources.
Section 2 - Finance and Municipal Court
• Electronic and manual lien search fees will increase by $2 and $7 respectively. Increases are due to cost recovery efforts and additional staff expense.
• New fees are added for printed copies of financial documents like the Five-Year Forecast, Capital Improvement Plan, Urban Renewal Agency or City Budgets due to the expense incurred by the City to make physical copies. Also, two fees for Municipal Court are placed in the fee schedule for the first time.
Section 3 - Community Planning and Development
• Most fees are increased by the CPI-U rate with some new fees in the Planning Division including Re-noticing, Outdoor Advertising Sign Structural Face Change, Planning Review for Historic Plan and Historic Reinspection.
• Parking will see $2 increases to the Pringle, Liberty, Chemeketa, and Marion parkades parking permits.
• Compliance Services includes fee increases for sound permits, short-term rental licensing, and racetrack events.
• Most Development Services fees are increased by either ENR or CPI-U. Some new fees include processing / application fees for several types of Type A or Type C Street / Right-of-Way permits.
Section 4 - Fire
• Most ambulance fees increase by 25 percent based on consultant AP Triton’s Emergency Medical Services (EMS) Valuation and Optimization study recommendations to enhance recruitment efforts and fulfill existing contractual commitments. FY 2024 rates were set at $1,927.00 for most transport services. AP Triton's comprehensive review considered various factors, including cost structures, fiscal responsibility, and the necessity for Falck Ambulance to maintain competitive employee wages. Additionally, the integration of Salem Fire's strategic pivot back into EMS necessitates a sustainable financial model to support the long-term success of the service. Consequently, the analysis supported an increase in transport fees to $2,409.00 for FY 2025, a $482.00 increase from most of the previous rates, ensuring the EMS system's financial sustainability and operational effectiveness.
Section 5 - Legal
• The burden rates for staff research have been adjusted to reflect updated employee costs for FY 2025.
Section 6 - Police
• No proposed changes
Section 7 - Public Works, Utility
• Fees are mostly adjusted based on either the CPI-U or the ENR rate.
Section 7 - Public Works, Airport
• New fees include Ground Service Use Fees for both commercial and non-commercial entities, and terminal use fee and Airport hangar key / Airport hangar lock replacements.
Section 8 - Community Services
• Most Recreation fees have increased by the CPI-U rate.
• Facility / space rental fees in Recreation have been divided to delineate between days of the week a facility is used (Monday - Thursday or Friday - Sunday) to correspond with staff expenses associated with those times. Other new fees include Recycled Tree Materials - Leaves, Chips to be sold by the yard; Use of the Trash Compactor by event holders; and a change in units for the All Comer Track Field Meets / Events.
• As part of cost recovery efforts, Center50+ has added two new fees for non-Salem residents: a $30 annual pass or a 20 percent surcharge for classes when the annual pass is not purchased. Also, facility rentals have increased by 20 percent.
• The Library has increased room rental rates, printing rates, and has added a new cleaning fee to account for staff time to clean items returned to the Library of Things in improper condition.
Other Points of Interest
Budget Committee Action
During their deliberations on the FY 2025 budget, the Budget Committee recommended that City Council consider an increase to downtown garage parking permit fees by $9 per month. Currently, the proposed fee schedule does not include this increase. However, when considering the fee schedule, City Council could make a motion to amend the fee schedule to include the adjustment in response to the Budget Committee’s recommendation.
Community Services Fee Study
In collaboration with the Finance Department, the Parks and Recreation sections of the Community Services Department are proceeding with an independent fee study which will be going out for a Request for Proposal in summer of 2024. Goals of this study will be to conduct a market analysis which will look at the nexus between program enrollment and charges, cost recovery, fee escalation and more. The findings of this study will be completed in time to be included in the FY 2026 budget and fee schedule.
BACKGROUND:
Many City departments have a schedule of fees or charges to support services provided to the community. In past years, departments would present individual staff reports and recommendation of a fee resolution. In preparation for FY 2025, similar to the last four years, this action is managed through a single resolution with a combined presentation of fees and charges.
Kelli Blechschmidt
Management Analyst II
Attachments:
1. Resolution No. 2024-26
2. Resolution No. 2024-26, Exhibit A