City staff presented a draft ordinance on Oct. 9 to codify the city’s fee schedule for fiscal year 2026 and to revise how the city charges for certain development-related services; the item was introduced for a later vote and no final action was taken.

Mister Powers, presenting the schedule, told the council the draft covers routine fees (building permits, parks and recreation, library services) while excluding roadway impact fees and water/sewer impact fees, which are handled separately. He said most line items are unchanged but four departments proposed adjustments and a single overarching change would let the city pass through outside professional (third‑party) costs to applicants when a permit or application requires services beyond routine review.

On development services, staff proposed a new formula for optional expedited plan review: an applicant who requests expedited review would pay one-half of the normal fee plus estimated third‑party consultant costs; the estimate would be collected up front into an escrow and refunded if unused. Powers said the change is intended to ensure the city recovers out-of-pocket costs rather than have such expenses fall to the general fund.

Powers also said the airport recommended a 5% increase in hangar and tie‑down fees and the cemetery recommended roughly a 7% increase to move closer to full cost recovery. Library color-copy fees were removed because the library no longer offers color copies. Parks and recreation proposed new rental fees for inflatables at city parks (the draft text will be corrected to clarify the fee applies citywide, not only at the regional park).

Council members raised questions about how the technology fee is assessed. One councilor cited an apparent per‑square‑foot entry in the draft and worried it could create very large upfront charges for large industrial buildings. Powers and other staff clarified the technology fee is a flat pass‑through tied to software O&M and that suspected typographical errors would be corrected before the next reading.

Councilors and the mayor pro tem framed the third‑party cost pass-through as a measure to prevent general‑fund overruns as the city’s volume of development grows. “Instead of the burden being one of our citizens and cutting into our general fund... it’s only fair that the developers absorb that,” said Mayor Pro Tem Sammerich.

The city attorney read Ordinance 2025‑23 into the record as codifying the fee schedule as Appendix B to the Code of Ordinances. The ordinance was introduced for further consideration at a later meeting; staff said they will return with any additional adjustments and cost-control recommendations for development services.