TITLE:
title
USER FEE STUDY AND CONSOLIDATED MASTER FEE SCHEDULE
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DEPARTMENT: FINANCE DEPARTMENT
PRESENTED BY: ANNA ACOSTA-REYES, FINANCE MANAGER
CONTACT INFORMATION: ANNA ACOSTA-REYES, FINANCE MANAGER, (714) 754-5243
RECOMMENDATION:
recommendation
Staff recommends the City Council:
Receive the User Fee Study Report prepared by ClearSource Financial Consulting.
Open the Public Hearing and take testimony.
Adopt a Resolution of the City Council of the City of Costa Mesa, California, Updating and Establishing User and Regulatory Fees for Various City Services.
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BACKGROUND:
City staff annually reviews user and regulatory fees as part of the City’s normal course of operations. Periodically, comprehensive fee studies are performed to calculate the City’s costs of providing fee-related services. In years between studies, fees are typically adjusted by the annual change in City labor cost inflation.
The overall goal of the fees study is to update the user fees and charges to reflect the cost of providing fee-supported services and to maintain appropriate levels of cost recovery. City records document comprehensive fee reviews dating back to the early 1990s, including comprehensive reviews in Fiscal Years 1992-93 and 2006-07. In 2019, the City initiated a comprehensive citywide fee study to evaluate user fees, service charges, and development-related fees based on the reasonable cost of providing services and retained the services of ClearSource Financial Consulting to facilitate the study. As the cost of providing municipal services has increased over time, corresponding user fees have also been adjusted.
On June 6, 2023, the City Council approved the consideration of the City’s multiple existing user and regulatory fees into one schedule. Combining the City’s current fees into one master-fee and charges schedule enhances transparency and ease of use for the public when trying to ascertain the cost for City services.
On June 3, 2025, staff present...
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