Pleasanton council adopts master fee schedule changes; turf fee increases paused for one year

Pleasanton City Council voted unanimously Feb. 4 to adopt a set of amendments to the city's master fee schedule that would let the city recover more of the direct costs of special events, add or update library and recreation fees, establish standby service rates for the Livermore Pleasanton Fire Department and begin modest stormwater inspection fees. Council members also approved a targeted change: the proposed hourly usage fees for natural grass and synthetic turf fields will be adopted at the proposed first-year levels but will not automatically escalate by CPI; the council will revisit those fees after one year.

The amendments, presented by Deputy City Manager Alexa Jeffress and department directors, are intended to move several categories from zero or partial cost recovery toward a clearer cost basis. Heidi Murphy, director of Library and Recreation, said the proposal gives staff the ability to charge for direct event support ' for example police barricades, field mowing adjustments, and city staffing ' and to catalog loaned items consistently with other library materials. Murphy called field-use fees ' currently proposed at $3.75 per hour for natural grass and $6 per hour for synthetic turf ' modest compared with neighboring cities and said the city will phase increases gradually.

Sean Fogarty, president of the Pleasanton Rage Girls Soccer Club, urged the council to limit increases or delay them, citing the club's history of fundraising investments in local facilities and the economic value of tournaments. "These escalating fees will not only make our tournaments unsustainable, but also jeopardize the community events that have been a cherished part of Pleasanton for decades," Fogarty said. A second speaker representing Rage asked the council to approve only the first year's increases and reassess subsequent hikes before they take effect.

Other changes approved by the council include: - Special-event and support-service fees: staff would calculate direct costs for each event and charge accordingly; the policy allows the city to partially subsidize events when appropriate. - Library and recreation: removal of some obsolete fee listings (for example, a borrowing-suspension practice) and a plan to implement print-management software before establishing a per-page printing charge; cataloging of loaned laptops as standard circulating items rather than a separate fee line. - Cosponsored field use: creation of a small hourly fee for cosponsored user groups (proposed $3.75/hour for certain natural grass fields, with synthetic turf subject to delayed implementation for some fields until Nov. 1, 2026 because of fundraising agreements). - Livermore Pleasanton Fire Department standby fees: new fully burdened hourly rates for personnel and apparatus for events or requested standby coverage; potential to recover costs for incident responses when appropriate. - Stormwater facility inspection fees: fees for initial and follow-up inspections of regulated facilities; staff estimated roughly $15,000 per year in revenue from these charges and identified six large Notice-of-Intent (NOI) facilities in Pleasanton that are inspected under the regional stormwater permit.

Council deliberations focused on fairness, the city's prior practice of charging little or nothing for some services, and the potential economic effect on volunteer and nonprofit sports organizations that host tournaments. Board members asked staff for the source comparisons used in the report and for more detail on how fees would be collected. Staff said the fees will be reviewed annually and that some fee categories (for example, synthetic turf) are constrained by existing fundraising agreements.

Motion and vote: Council member Gaydos moved to approve staff's recommendations with the amendment that the natural grass and synthetic turf hourly usage fees be set at the proposed first-year levels and not automatically escalated by CPI; Vice Mayor Nybert seconded. The council voted unanimously in favor.

The adopted resolution directs staff to implement the amended master fee schedule and return with updates as appropriate; the council also asked staff to monitor effects on tournament organizers and on field utilization and to report back during the annual fee update process.