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Fortuna council adopts FBID annual report; board recommends $25 flat assessment for FY25–26
Summary
The Fortuna City Council on March 3 adopted the FBID annual report and bylaw changes and accepted the advisory committee's recommendation to propose a $25 flat assessment for FY25–26, to be considered in a future intent-to-levy resolution.
The Fortuna City Council on March 3 adopted the Fortuna Business Improvement District (FBID) annual report and approved bylaw amendments recommended by the FBID advisory committee, including a proposed flat assessment of $25 per business for fiscal year 2025–26.
Sherry Mead, community development director, summarized the bylaw changes and annual-report items the FBID advisory committee approved on Feb. 18. The proposed bylaw edits remove earlier “core area” designations, reduce committee membership from seven to five, remove references to an FBID administrator position and clarify the city’s role. "The FBID advisory committee recommends reinstating the assessment for fiscal year 2025–26 to a flat assessment of $25 for every business within the city of Fortuna, which would generate approximately $16,500 annually," Mead said.
Council discussion split on the proposed flat fee. One council member argued the $25 flat fee is unfair because it increases smaller businesses’ assessments compared with the prior tiered schedule and suggested restoring the previous assessment structure immediately rather than using $25 as a placeholder. Proponents of the $25 flat fee said the FBID advisory committee had deliberated and that the flat fee would restore a modest revenue stream after no assessment was levied in FY24–25.
Mead said the FBID ad hoc and advisory committee discussed moving back to a tiered system and that the finance department plans to implement Invoice Cloud in the future to make a tiered system easier to administer; the committee intends to consider a tiered schedule in FY26–27. The council adopted the annual report with a modification to the membership term language to allow committee members to be reappointed consecutively after a two-year term. The motion passed unanimously; staff said an intent-to-levy resolution and an additional public hearing will be scheduled before any assessment is actually levied.
Key figures the council record lists: an estimated 660 businesses would be assessed the proposed $25 flat fee in FY25–26, producing approximately $16,500 in annual revenue; the FBID previously approved one-time and event-related expenditures (for example, modest grants for fireworks and parades) during the reported year. The advisory committee recommended a more limited revenue target (about $16,000) rather than restoring a larger, prior assessment schedule.
