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Clear Lake council updates fee schedule: rental registration, encroachment and event-deposit changes approved
Summary
The city adopted updates to the FY 2025–26 fee schedule, revising rental-registration fees, clarifying late-fee policy, adding encroachment permit options and reducing facility deposits to $100.
The Clear Lake City Council voted unanimously to adopt changes to the city’s fiscal year 2025–26 fee schedule, approving adjustments to rental-registration fees, late-fee and penalty language, encroachment-permit rates and event/facility deposits.
City Manager Flora summarized four categories of proposed changes: updated fees tied to the recently revised rental-registration program; clarifications and additions for late fees and penalties charged on unpaid city invoices; expanded and clarified encroachment-permit fees (including a new option for square-foot-based fees and an annual blanket encroachment permit for routine utility work); and several recreation-event and facility fee adjustments, including a staff-recommended reduction of facility security deposits to $100 to lower barriers to reserving public venues.
Flora said rental-registration fees had not been updated since about 2008 and that encroachment work sometimes requires inspections — for example after paving — that the city currently lacked explicit inspection fees for. The staff report also described demand for an annual blanket encroachment permit that would allow utilities and recurring maintenance work to proceed under city standards without a separate permit for each small job.
Council discussion touched briefly on the deposit change: city staff and recreation staff reported the larger deposits (previously as high as $500) were rarely used to cover damages and were a barrier for some community users; staff recommended lowering all facility deposits to a uniform $100 and returning to council if the lower deposit proved insufficient in practice. Vice Mayor Slotin moved approval; Council member Downey seconded after amending the motion to include the deposit change. The council adopted Resolution 2025-36 with a unanimous vote.
Votes at a glance Resolution 2025-36 — Adopt updated FY 2025–26 fee schedule (rental registration, late fees, encroachment permits, event/facility deposits): approved unanimously (5-0).
