City Departments collect a wide variety of fees for permits, services, fines and other charges that are all part of everyday operations of municipal government.  Since September 2008, the fees have been incorporated into a single fee schedule.  Ordinance 08-M-43 established the consolidated fee schedule and allows for the modification of existing fees to be done by resolution while new fees are established or added to the Fee Schedule by ordinance.

The Fee Schedule ordinance provides a single document with all City fees that directly affect the users. The changes to the fees ensure the continued operation of public utilities, provides for essential services to the community and to adequately maintain the investment in existing infrastructure.  All changes to the fee schedule will have an effective date of October 1, 2025.

Library 
Library will increase the Return Postage Fee for Inter-Library Loan items never picked up by the customer after arrival from $3 to $5. The current rate is $5.11 for returned items and the $3 is not recovering enough to cover the postage.

Magazine
The magazine will add fees to mitigate cancellations and late payments of $25, and early terminations at $50. Any design changes after the previously agreed upon design would result in a $120 per hour fee.

Event Facilities
The fees are proposed to increase for Civic Center base rental fees for all rooms. These changes range from a $25 increase for the Grand Ball Room Half Day Monday-Thursday, to $975 increase on the Friday Rate Full day. Fridays are normally set to weekend level of rates however Schertz is lower and is being utilitized at the same level of the Saturday usage.
There is an increase fee for providing ice services. $5 increase to $20 for one bin and $25 increase to $50 for unlimited. The Beverage Service option also increases $25 to $75 for this change.
The Portable Bar option reduces by $50 to clarify charges for cocktail tables. Now the base fee of $150 does not include any cocktail tables but can be added back in for the $50 fee.
Uplighting fees increase from $15 to $20 per light or $100 to $150 for the 10 light package.
Other small fees were added to include wireless microphone at $50, lapel microphone at $75, podium at $25 and easel at $25. However the fee for the audio package that includes the screen/projector/audio/mics/podium decreases to $150 from $175 and removes the usage time constraint.
The cleaning fee for the Civic Center is proposed to increase from $150 to $300 to reflect the work required to clean after events.
Staff also proposes to remove the Deposit requirement and replace it with a Reservation Fee. This fee would be non-refundable but still applied to the balance of the event. The main difference is the lower cost of the reservation fee but removes the grace period where a customer can cancel an event and get their full deposit back.For the Grand Ballrooom and Cut-Off Hall the Deposit was $500 and the Reservation Fee will now be $200. For the Conference Hall and the Bluebonnet Hall, the Deposit was $200 and the Reservation fee would be $100.
Security fees are updated in the schedule to reflect costs charged by the off-duty officers. The coordination fee increases from $15 to $25, the regular per officer charge increases from $50 to $60, and their holiday rates increase from $75 to $100 per hour.
These rate changes are to be more comparable to other local comparable centers. City Staff presented the rate fee proposal to the Parks Board at their July 28, 2025 meeting, and it was approved unanimously.

Neighborhood Services
Food establishment fee structure is proposed to be changed from the 5 categories the City has currently to 2. Both sets were based on number of employees but now there would be 1 rate for establishments with 10 and less employees and 1 rate for 11 and more. This model is comparable to what other cities are doing but are still less than what larger cities are charging. 

Mobile vendor permits are also proposed to increase from $100 to $250. The state charges $150 and other cities charge $350 so staff was aiming for the middle ground with this update. This fee was last updated in 2022 and the City will still accept permits acquired in other cities for only a $25 registration fee in lieu of getting the $250 permit through Schertz.

City Events
Increase the Umpired League fees for individuals from $25 to $35.

Neighborhood Services
Recent Senate Bill 1008 limited the rate that can be charged for Food Establishment Fees. To comply the City reduces the rate from $800 to $773 for establishments with 11 or more employees.

Emergency Medical Service (EMS)
EMS proposes to increase Response Services by $100 each. These are for transports that require ambulance medical services and not simply transportation to a hospital. This increase is estimated to generate an additional $1 million in revenue for the EMS Fund and is part of the recommendation to bring the fund out of its deficit. 

Water & Sewer
Water rates are proposed to increase 2% and Sewer rates by 3% for residential and commercial accounts, following the Year 2 of the 5 year rate plan accepted by the City in 2023. This rate plan was set to fund annual increases in operating costs, pay debt, and to fund known capital improvement projects. The overall impact to a resident using 10,000 gallons of water and 5,000 gallons of sewer would be $2.46 per month.

Public Works
Public Works is adding Bulk Water sales to the fee schedule that was in the water ordinance but not included in the fee schedule as well as increasing the Wholesale Water Distribution Rate by the recommended 2% water increase.

Capital Impact Fees
The changes in the impact fees reflect the latest increase reflected in the adopted Water and Wastewater Master Plan and Impact Fee Study.

To conduct a public hearing to update the Adopted Fee Schedule for FY 2025-26.

Provide a single place for information on City fees.

Staff recommends council approve the proposed changes to the fees schedule.

The overall impact of the Library, Magazine, City Events, and Neighborhood Services will be minimal to the General Fund and mostly offset the specific charges they target.

Changes to the Civic Center Rental Fees is estimated to increase revenues by $52,000.

The EMS Fee changes could add $1 million in additional revenue for the fund which is needed to meet rising costs of providing services.

On average, residential utility customers would see an increase of $2.44 per month, under the recommended second year of the 5-year rate plan and fund the projected operational costs. This would raise an estimated $702,000 in additional water revenue.

The Impact Fee changes are for information purposes only as they are approved and are being added to the fee schedule.

Adopt Ordinance 25-M-034 and updated fees for FY 2025-26