| ITEM #: 6. DATE: 11/07/2022 AI #:1107 |
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CITY COUNCIL ACTION REPORT
| SUBJECT: | AMENDMENT TO THE MUNICIPAL USER FEE SCHEDULE |
| STAFF PRESENTER(S): | Doug Sandstrom, Finance Director |
SUMMARY
FY2023 Proposed New and Modified User Fees with a proposed effective date of December 7, 2022.
Recommendation
ADOPT RESOLUTION NO. 2022-2274, APPROVING AND ADOPTING A DOCUMENT ENTITLED THE GOODYEAR MUNICIPAL USER FEE SCHEDULE REPLACING AND SUPERSEDING THE MUNICIPAL USER FEE SCHEDULE ADOPTED BY RESOLUTION NO.2021-2167 AS AMENDED; PROVIDING FOR AN EFFECTIVE DATE. (Doug Sandstrom, Finance Director)
FISCAL IMPACT
The fiscal impact of this action will be minimal and is not expected to materially affect forecasted revenue collections.
BACKGROUND AND PREVIOUS ACTIONS
On July 12, 2021, the Mayor and City Council of the City of Goodyear approved Resolution 2021-2167, approving and adopting user fees and cost recovery rates a document entitled Goodyear Municipal User Fee Schedule as recommended by staff. The proposed action will adopt Resolution 2022-2274, revising the municipal user fee schedule and superseding Resolution 2022-2274. On July 18, 2022, the Council took action to adopt Resolution 2022-2260, revising municipal user fees. That resolution included an incorrect fee schedule and was reconsidered and disapproved on September 12, 2022. This action will make the intended modifications from July 18.
Per A.R.S. §9-499.15 all fees were noticed on our website on September 8, 2022, with a copy provided to the Clerk's office, complying with all required notifications procedures.
Per A.R.S. §9-499.15 all fees were noticed on our website on September 8, 2022, with a copy provided to the Clerk's office, complying with all required notifications procedures.
STAFF ANALYSIS
The proposed fee changes are occurring within the Building section of the Municipal User Fee Schedule. The proposed changes clarify language for application and simplify calculation of fees. The updates will also reduce permit amounts for projects with valuation lower than $10,000, to be more in line with cost recovery principles and neighboring cities.
Table 1-A: The current Building Permit Fees are broken into a seven (7) tier structure. The range of tier 1 and tier 2 are being restructured to broaden the fee ranges.; The coordinating rates of all 7 tiers are being adjusted to appropriately capture costs. In an effort to simplify and reduce fees for smaller projects that are often undertaken by residence we propose modifying tier 1 to be a flat fee without a plan review fee to reduce costs. Costs for permits below $10,000 are ranging from 5%-25% of the valuation. A reasonable permit cost is in the 3% or less. Reducing costs for these smaller projects will help to encourage people to get permits and provide us the opportunity to impact life safety throughout our community. Tier 2 through 7 are adjusted to accommodate the expanded range of tier 1 and have each tier start at the top of the lower tier costs. Tier 7 is greater than $1,000,000 and has been adjusted to capture $3 per thousand from $3 per $5000. These adjustments are on par with neighboring communities.
Table 1-A: The current Building Permit Fees are broken into a seven (7) tier structure. The range of tier 1 and tier 2 are being restructured to broaden the fee ranges.; The coordinating rates of all 7 tiers are being adjusted to appropriately capture costs. In an effort to simplify and reduce fees for smaller projects that are often undertaken by residence we propose modifying tier 1 to be a flat fee without a plan review fee to reduce costs. Costs for permits below $10,000 are ranging from 5%-25% of the valuation. A reasonable permit cost is in the 3% or less. Reducing costs for these smaller projects will help to encourage people to get permits and provide us the opportunity to impact life safety throughout our community. Tier 2 through 7 are adjusted to accommodate the expanded range of tier 1 and have each tier start at the top of the lower tier costs. Tier 7 is greater than $1,000,000 and has been adjusted to capture $3 per thousand from $3 per $5000. These adjustments are on par with neighboring communities.
| Project Values |
Goodyear | Avondale | Buckeye | Peoria | Surprise | Glendale | Phoenix |
| $10,000 | $202 | $391 | $353 | $311 | $219 | $400 | $462 |
| >$1,000,000 | $3/$1000 | $5/$1000 | $5/$1000 | $3.65/$1000 | $5/$1000 | $4.62/$1000 | $4/$1000 |
| @$2,000,000 | $11,116 | $12,947 | $13,329 | $9310 | $5100 | $11,710 | $11,201 |
Table 1-B: The Miscellaneous Permit Fees are being adjusted to reflect the new range structure in Table 1A.
This adjustment picks up after the flat rate for up to $10,000 and removes the confusion of having different plan review fees for existing residential.
Fire Permit Fees and Plan review Fees: Verbiage is being changed to clarify and simplify the Fire Plan Review Fee.
Fire Plan Review Fee: Plans review fees pay for the review of plans to determine compliance with code. This adjustment is more accurately reflects the time cost to review.
Table 1-F: Automatic Fire Sprinkler System fee and Fire Plan Review Fees verbiage is being changed for clarification; We have eliminated a per story additional cost to use a flat rate for area and also eliminated “new installation in existing structure” to make it less complex. And, we have removed fire plan review fees from projects that have little review time associated with them.
Table 1-G: Solar Photovaltaic System Permits still reflects 15% fee but verbiage is being added to clarify point of reference in rate structure Table 1A. A commercial solar project could easily be in the multi millions of dollars. Charging 15% of the contract cost is not a cost recovery fee it is grossly over reaching. We have adjusted to using 15% of the contract cost with table 1A to make the fees more reasonable.