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Placerville council approves new encroachment-permit fee schedule to help close FY25–26 budget gap
Summary
The council approved updated encroachment permit fees, shifting some flat fees to time-and-materials billing and adding a quarterly vegetation-management permit; staff says changes will generate roughly $110,000 annually.
The Placerville City Council voted Sept. 23 to approve a revised encroachment permit fee schedule, updating fees that had not been comprehensively revised since 2008.
City staff told the council the last comprehensive review of these fees was in July 2008. Rising labor and overhead costs, changes to program activity and increased permit volume prompted the update. “Since 2008, the billable rates for all positions have risen significantly and some program activity assumptions have become outdated,” staff said during the presentation. The proposed schedule updates hourly billable rates, converts some previously flat-rate permit categories to time-and-materials (T&M), and creates a new quarterly vegetation-management permit category designed to streamline recurring utility vegetation work.
City Engineer Savage described the new structure and said the changes simplify overlapping categories and reduce staff processing time for simple activities, while ensuring the city recovers costs for longer or more complex projects. He noted the city has received 142 PG&E permits this year and described the quarterly permit trial the city has run for vegetation-management work.
Finance staff said the adopted fiscal year 2025–26 operating budget included a $196,000 general-fund deficit and that the new fees are expected to generate about $110,000 in ongoing annual revenue (approximately $66,000 in the current fiscal year), reducing the budget shortfall.
During the public hearing, a speaker representing local electrical contractors endorsed the quarterly vegetation permit concept and urged the council to include escalator clauses to address bad-actor behavior and unannounced large-scale work.
After public comment, the council approved the revised fee schedule on a 5–0 roll-call vote. Staff said the new fees will take effect Nov. 24, 2025 and that time-and-materials permits will require deposits and additional accounting work.
