Sentinel staff report–
The Citrus Heights City Council during its most recent meeting last month unanimously passed several fee increases and adjustments affecting building permits and other fees charged by the city.
The city’s interim administrative services director said a pair of fees that will increase building permit costs by a combined 10% were “inadvertently omitted” during a prior fee increase two years ago.
The city previously raised fees across the board after contracting with Matrix Consulting Group in 2019 to study the actual cost of providing specialized city services and make recommendations to adjust fees charged to reduce the amount of costs being subsidized by the city’s General Fund. The council at that time passed the recommended fee adjustments in a 4-0 vote, which were expected to generate another $600,000 in revenue for the city.
Interim Administrative Services Director Bill Zenoni told the council during last month’s meeting that the additional pair of fees are expected to generate $135,000 per year.
Zenoni said a new “General Plan Update fee” will add a 6% fee to building permits to generate about $65,000 per year in order to offset the cost of future General Plan updates. He said the city’s General Plan should be updated about every 10 years at a cost of $600,000, with the city’s most recent update having occurred in 2011.
Additionally, Zenoni said a Technology Fee of 4% was needed to cover costs of technology associated with plan review and permitting. The fee will be added to building, planning and engineering fees charged by the city and will generate an estimated $70,000 per year.
Several other adjustments to various fees were also made during the council’s June 24 meeting.
From 2019: Citrus Heights drops fee hike that would have tripled water heater permit cost
The council’s prior action to raise fees across the board came under fire from many residents on social media, although only one person spoke during the meeting in 2019. No residents spoke during a public hearing held prior to the council’s vote last month.
From 2019: Only one man spoke at the public hearing about fee increases in Citrus Heights. Here’s what he said.
Following the proposed increase two years ago, most ire was directed at the proposed tripling of a flat-rate building permit issuance fee which would have increased the fee to $235, up from the existing cost of $68, making a water heater replacement permit rise from a total cost of about $87 up to $264. The council ended up dropping that portion of the fee increases.
Councilman Bret Daniels, who advocated for permitting being a “no-cost process” while running for office in 2016, ended up casting his vote in support of the fee increases this time.
Daniels previously said in a candidate statement: “We need to make our permitting procedures a no-cost process. If we stop to think about who is protected by the permitting process, it is the public as a whole. The public should then cover the cost as a whole. We pay taxes and those taxes should be used for government actions such as permitting. This would encourage homeowners to involve city staff and make our city safer.”
Asked why he voted to support the fee increases instead, Daniels said in an email Monday his position is still the same as in 2016, but that he is waiting to fight the fees “at a later day when we can win the battle,” referencing next year’s election when three seats on the City Council are up for election.
“I still feel these costs should be covered by the fact we already pay taxes and the services are designed to help the public as a whole,” said Daniels. “But I know the current council make up does not feel the same way.”
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