Auburn council hears proposed 2025–26 fee schedule: ambulance, parking, code and landfill rate changes

City staff presented a comprehensive proposed fee schedule for fiscal 2025–26 Thursday that would institute new charges and raise several existing fees, from ambulance and fire responses to transfer-station tipping and building permits.

Lisa (city staff) led the presentation and said departments had reviewed costs and sought to recover staff time and service expenses. The schedule proposes: adding a contractual ambulance transport/intercept rate (noted in the schedule as up to $1,600 for certain intercepts), establishing a fee for fire-department lift assists at facilities, increasing tax search fees (from $35 to $40), raising transfer-station commercial tipping from $80 to $95 per ton because the city will use a different, more distant facility, and a proposed unit rate for curbside trash service at $400 per unit (staff later revised the recommendation to $400 from an earlier $420 proposed in draft).

Code enforcement and building permit calculations were revised to better reflect staff time and outside consultant costs; the presentation recommends raising some residential and commercial building fees, adding an inspection no‑show fee, and raising repeat off‑permit work penalties. The parks and recreation schedule includes small increases (softball fees and ice-rink rental moved higher after energy and staffing analysis). On parking, staff proposed eliminating a two‑hour free period in the parking garage and aligning garage hourly rates with on‑street Pango pricing (approximately $1 per hour for on‑street parking and $3 in the garage for a 5‑hour window under the current structure), and discussed adding an in‑garage kiosk for cash payments.

Sewer and landfill rates were addressed: landfill leachate disposal rates increase from $69 per thousand gallons to $86 per thousand gallons; sewer inside-city charge moved slightly (staff cited a small change around $4.92 per hundred cubic feet). Staff said the transfer-station contract bid produced higher hauling and tipping costs, prompting the commercial rate increase. The schedule includes a plan for the landfill Fund to partially repay a balance owed to the general fund.

Councilors and staff discussed enforcement and equity in refuse charges; several councilors raised that square footage alone may not fairly allocate commercial trash costs and asked staff to return with more analysis. Councilor comments also noted enforcement challenges when households or multifamily properties place above-normal volumes at curbside.

No final vote was taken; staff requested council input and said the fee schedule will be refined and returned with budget materials.