TO: Mayor and City Council
THROUGH: Krishna Namburi, Interim City Manager
FROM: Josh Eggleston, Chief Financial Officer
SUBJECT:
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Proposed FY 2026 Fee Schedule
Ward(s): All Wards
Councilor(s): All Councilors
Neighborhood(s): All Neighborhoods
Result Area(s): Good Governance.
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SUMMARY:
summary
Each fiscal year, to provide the community with easy accessibility and transparency, the City of Salem’s Finance Department in partnership with all City departments produces a fee schedule which consolidates most City fees. The fee schedule is adopted annually prior to the new fiscal year.
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ISSUE:
Shall the City Council adopt Resolution No. 2025-10, setting fees and charges for the City of Salem as set forth in Exhibit A to Resolution No. 2025-10?
RECOMMENDATION:
recommendation
Adopt Resolution No. 2025-10, setting fees and charges for the City of Salem as set forth in Exhibit A to Resolution No. 2025-10.
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FACTS AND FINDINGS:
The City of Salem offers and performs certain services where the cost is borne by those receiving the service. The FY 2026 recommended budget estimates $218 million from 72 revenue types and over 1,500 individual fees. In the upcoming fiscal year, revenue generated from fees and charges represent over 20.8 percent of all budgeted City revenues across all funds.
Fees and charges support the direct provision of a variety of City services, including 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. Annually, 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 (ENR) rate (December to December change) unless otherwise noted. The rates for CPI-U and ENR are 2.5 percent and 1.98 percent respectively. The CPI-U has decreased from the prior year by 1.1 percent and the ENR by 3.02 percent.
Below is a summary of some of the FY 2026 proposed fee changes, organized by section in the attached fee schedule (Attachment 2) for reference.
Please note increases in fees for appeals of code compliance and fees for exclusion orders, from $270 to $405, are assessed by the Hearings Officer and then passed on through the City to the appellant. These are not noted in the summary below.
Section 1 - Non Departmental
• Per SRC 40.020(b), the City Operations Fee is proposed to increase on January 1, 2026. 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 services and is estimated to generate approximately $15 million in FY26 Budget.
Section 2 - Finance and Municipal Court
• Electronic and manual lien search fees will increase by $1 and $3 respectively. Increases achieve cost recovery and are receipted in the General Fund.
• In the Municipal Court Division, the Overdue Processing Fee is decreasing to align with current day-to-day operations. The resulting budget impact is nominal, less than $2,500 on an annual basis. These fees are receipted into the General Fund.
Section 3 - Community Planning and Development
• Most fees are increased by the CPI-U rate with some new signage, historic research and interpretive design, and tree violation administration fees in the Planning Division.
• Short-term rental licensing has also moved to the Planning Division from Compliance Services.
• Compliance Services includes fee increases for sound permits and racetrack events. The fee schedule also shows the movement of licensing fees to the Planning Division.
These are receipted into the General Fund.
• Parking permit fees increase between $1 and $2 for the Pringle (receipted into the General Fund), Liberty, Chemeketa, and Marion (receipted into the Downtown Parking Fund) parkades parking permits.
• Most Development Services fees are increased by either ENR or CPI-U, all of which are receipted into the Utility Fund. Some fee changes include the renaming of several fees for better customer clarity and the removal of bike locker rental fees.
Section 4 - Fire
• Most ambulance fees increase by 4.19% percent based on the CPI for Medical. Additionally, new fees have been added for interfacility transports. These fees are deposited into the EMS Fund, an enterprise fund.
• Increases to the Hazardous Use Permit and Additional Plans Review - Fire have been included. These fees are deposited into the General Fund.
Section 5 - Legal
• The burden rates for staff research have been adjusted to reflect updated employee costs for FY 2026, in an effort to achieve cost recovery.
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 and are receipted into the Utility Fund or Transportation Fund.
Section 7 - Public Works, Airport
• Removal of the Advertising Fee because an outside contractor is coordinating the external signage program.
Section 8 - Community Services
These fees are receipted in the General Fund.
• Some Recreation fees have increased by the CPI-U rate.
• New facility / space rental fees in Recreation include the rental of the entire Riverfront Park Gerry Frank | Rotary Amphitheater for various events Friday - Sunday and a new fee for the Geer Park artificial turf fields.
• Center50+ has increased fees for some classes based on outside contractor rates.
• The Salem Public Library has increased non-resident Library card fees. The Library has also included a rate for non-commercial room rentals at a 20% discount in alignment with Council Policy X-5.
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 to City Council. In preparation for FY 2026, similar to the last five 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. 2025-10
2. Resolution No. 2025-10, Exhibit A