Hold a public hearing, adopt 2024-25 Master Fee Resolution, and approve changes to the Yolo County Master Fee Schedule for the Department of Agriculture, Assessor/Clerk Recorder/Elections, Community Services, and Library. (General fund revenue impact: $80,345) (Haynes/Robertson) (Est. Time: 10 min)

This item presents the proposed update to the Master Fee Resolution for fiscal year 2024-25, incorporating fee changes for the Department of Agriculture, Assessor/Clerk Recorder/Elections (ACE), Community Services, and Library.
 
The Master Fee Resolution, first adopted by the Board of Supervisors in 1991, includes an estimated 1,350 fees and charges for services provided by County departments.  The use of a single resolution and integrated fee schedule provides for a systematic review of County fees and allows for necessary adjustments to reflect changing service delivery costs.  The Master Fee Schedule was last updated on December 5, 2023.  The sections below describe in further detail the proposed fee changes in the 2024-25 Master Fee Resolution. 

Agriculture

The Department of Agriculture is proposing fee increases to further recover costs associated with issuing Phytosanitary Certificates.  Each year the Agriculture department issues Phytosanitary Certificates for commodities to enter both domestic and foreign commerce.  These certificates attest to the freedom of pathogens, weeds, and insects, which may be detrimental to agriculture, and help ensure they are not shipped to regions and countries where they do not occur.  Certificates for shipments within the United States are issued under the authority of the California Department of Food and Agriculture (CDFA) and foreign shipments under a cooperative agreement with the United States Department of Agriculture (USDA).  A 3-year analysis showed the average cost of staff time per Phytosanitary Certificate was $70.69. The current fee is $55.00/certificate, and the department is proposing a new fee of $60.00/certificate.  The increase in revenue will fluctuate year to year based on exports, but using prior year data, approximately $28,000 in additional revenue is expected. The last fee increase for Phytosanitary Certificates occurred in July of 2022.

In addition, the Yolo County Department of Agriculture is proposing a commercial device registration fee increase for various commercial devices to conform with Business and Professions Code 12240.  Each year owners of commercial weighing and measuring devices must register those devices with the department.  The associated fees are to cover the cost of inspecting and testing the devices to assure consumers are being charged accurately for goods purchased and to help ensure an equitable marketplace for everyone.  Business and Professions Code 12240 allows for the County to collect those fees and, under subparts of the statute, set a maximum fee limit for commercial devices under the authority of the County Sealer.  While statute will not allow the department to recover its full costs, these proposed increases will help in balancing its budget and increasing cost recovery. The recommended fee adjustments is expected to increase department revenue by approximately $60,000.  The last revision for registration fees was in April 2022.  These fee changes will not take effect until January 2025. 

Assessor/Clerk Recorder/Elections

Recently, a public records act request was submitted to the Assessor’s office for information that has historically been supplied at a cost to the public and is spelled out in the Master Fee schedule. The Assessor’s office referred the request to County Counsel to advise on an appropriate response to the member of the public and how to address the fee associated with the request. After review of the code used to originally justify the fee, it was determined that this information should be provided to the public for free when requested. Due to the change in interpretation of this code, the recommendation was made to delete these fees and no longer charge for this information moving forward. This will result in a revenue loss of approximately $7,000 per year and take effect immediately.

Community Services

Integrated Waste Management (Central Landfill)

The Integrated Waste Management Division operates as a self-supporting enterprise fund and depends on revenue from disposal and recycling services and permit fees to fund most of its programs, including operation of the Yolo County Central Landfill (referenced as “Landfill”) and the Esparto Convenience Center (referenced as “Esparto Transfer Station”).

New Fees (3)

One of the new fees proposed with the Master Fee Update is the Out-of-County Tip Fee Surcharge. The Board of Supervisors received a presentation introducing the Out-of-County Tip Fee Surcharge at the April 9, 2024 meeting. The proposed fee would total $1 per ton only for out-of-county haulers disposing of liquid waste and municipal solid waste. The fees collected would pass through directly to the Sustainability Division for implementation of the Climate Action and Adaptation Plan. Historically, the transportation sector has accounted for more than half of the unincorporated County emissions, and this fee would be directly used to mitigate the impact of GHG emissions by funneling fees from out-of-county haulers towards limiting the county’s carbon footprint. The total expected annual revenue derived from this fee is expected to be $100,000. Revenues can only be used to implement the Climate Action and Adaptation Plan (CAAP). 

The second new fee proposed is an $8 charge for City Bulky Waste Disposal Voucher Handling Fees. The cities of Davis, Woodland and Winters have requested the County administer bulky waste vouchers on their behalf at the landfill instead of each city or their respective solid waste collection provider (Waste Management, Inc. or Recology Davis), hosting a bulky waste event. The County has agreed to such vouchers since the onset of COVID when special events went away.  The cities and solid waste providers have found this to be a much more cost-effective way to manage their bulky waste programs and believe it is also more convenient for constituents since they can use the voucher at any time during the voucher period.  This has created a small burden on County staff and therefore this fee would be applied to vouchers redeemed and will be paid out by Waste Management, Inc. and Recology Davis in lieu of hosting their own events. The City of West Sacramento does not currently participate in the voucher program. The total expected annual revenue derived from this fee is expected to be $10,000. 

The third fee proposed is a $10 for Commercial Recyclable Commodities fee. Although this fee is presented as new with this master fee update, this fee was approved by the Board of Supervisors previously in December 2023. However, this fee was only listed under the “Central Landfill” fees and not included on the Esparto Convenience Center fees. This is simply a clerical correction to have more transparency with constituents.

Revised Fees (35)

The division is requesting to revise 28 Yolo Central Landfill fees and 7 Esparto Transfer Station fees on the master fee schedule. The majority of these fees are regularly updated with the June Master Fee process as inflation and other factors cause increased costs to dispose of certain items. All fees proposed for revision have been modified within at least the past 3 years, with the majority revised in June 2023.

The table below highlights the most significant changes of over a 10% increase to the current fee, of which all are designed to recognize cost recovery more fully. Tire disposal fees are not recognizing full cost recovery, but it was determined by staff the proposed rates would allow the Landfill to remain competitive for services and prevent potential roadside disposal should the fee become too burdensome for consumers.
 

The total expected revenue from all revisions is $621,521.

County Service Areas

Community Services is requesting to revise the Community Service Manager hourly rate to County Service Area Manager hourly rate to better identity the purpose of the fee. The request also includes reducing the fee from $190 to $140. This fee is used by fiscal staff to bill out the allocable time for the CSA Manager to relevant County Service Areas. While the currently published fee was produced by Wohlford Consulting, staff believes it is exorbitant and charges more than what can be reasonably justified for CSA Management duties. Therefore, the department has created a time study which more reasonably places this cost at $140 per hour. Staff recommends this update and will use this figure to allocate current and future year CSA Managerial time.

Library

The Library is proposing increased fees for the replacement costs for Chromebook carrying cases, hotspot chargers and USB cables, and books from Read Around Yolo bags.  These revisions reflect increases in the actual replacement cost of these items.  A new replacement fee was added for Playaway Launchpad cases, which protect early-learning tablet devices that library customers can borrow.

Additionally, the Library is proposing two charges related to Archives staff time.  A new charge was added for staff time related to research requests, in which the first hour is provided free of charge, and additional time is charged at a rate of $25.00 per 15 minutes.  The purpose of this is to provide typical research requests which are completed within an hour free of charge, while large in-depth projects will be charged accordingly.  Separately, the charge for staff time on special orders or requests was modified to remove a notation that the first 30 minutes of staff time was provided free of charge.  Special orders or projects are requests from customers that do not involve accessing or adding to the county’s historical records, such as preservation consultations or digitization projects.  Since these projects fall outside of the core mission of the Archives program, the fee is recommended to be charged for all staff time. The changes to these fees are intended to bring the master fee schedule in line with actual practice and are consistent with the Archives’ purpose to ensure the preservation of, and access to, historical records and resources in Yolo County.

Lastly, six replacement fees for technology equipment that could be borrowed by library customers are proposed for deletion, as the equipment is no longer circulating. There is no significant revenue change expected from these revisions, as they align solely with replacement costs for specific items.

Proposed fee changes were developed and submitted by the requesting departments. Fees were reviewed by the Department of Financial Services and County Counsel's Office.