Consultants tell Ithaca council full cost recovery unlikely; recommend standardized fee sheets, targeted hikes and expanded transparency

Kieran Bazilla, a senior associate with CGR (the Center for Governmental Research), told the Ithaca Common Council on Sept. 16 that the city’s municipal fee structure is large and fragmented and that “full cost recovery is unlikely on many fees.” The consultant presented a compiled spreadsheet of the city’s fees, a standardized method to calculate costs and a set of recommendations for centralizing and regularizing fee-setting in the annual budget process.

The study identified roughly 500 fee lines across departments and recommended that the city require departments to complete a fee template showing units, transactions, staff time and related overhead so officials can judge cost recovery more accurately. Bazilla said some departments — notably the clerk’s office — reported substantial staff time would be required to complete the templates.

Why it matters: City leaders told the council the city lacks a single, consistently updated inventory of fees. That makes it harder for the public and elected officials to see who pays, which fees subsidize public benefits, and where increases would be most equitable. The study’s recommended tools would let the council review fees as part of the annual budget rather than in…