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Committee approves municipal-code change updating index used to set annual park fees
Summary
The Arts, Parks, Libraries and Community Enrichment Committee approved an amendment to the Los Angeles Municipal Code to update one indexing source used in the annual park fee adjustment and confirmed timelines and allowable uses for park-fee revenue.
The Arts, Parks, Libraries and Community Enrichment Committee approved an amendment to the Los Angeles Municipal Code to update one of the indexing sources used to calculate the city's annual park fee adjustment. The committee voted to move forward with using a weighted average of the Engineering News-Record construction cost index and the Federal Reserve Economic Data (FRED) all-transactions house price index for Los Angeles, Long Beach and Glendale.
The change applies to a portion of Article 10, Chapter 1A of the Los Angeles Municipal Code and is intended to align the park-fee adjustment methodology with a recently revised corresponding section of LAMC 12.33. The adjustment is calculated annually and takes effect July 1; staff said the Board of Recreation and Park Commissioners will consider updated rates and fees in June so they can be published in time for the July 1 effective date.
Megan Louera of the Department of Recreation and Parks described the two-index approach: “So each year, we calculate the adjustment using a weighted average of two indexing sources. One of the indexing sources is the construction cost index from Engineering News-Record ... and then the other ... is the Federal Reserve Economic Data ... all-transactions house price index for the Los Angeles, Long Beach, and Glendale areas, as published by the Federal Reserve Bank of St. Louis.” Louera said the ENR construction cost index is measured on a March-to-March basis while the house price index is reported on a fourth-quarter-to-fourth-quarter basis.
Committee members pressed staff on reporting and revenue projection. Recreation and Parks staff said the department does not have current-year park-fee collection totals available in real time; collections are published in the park-fee annual report, which the department said will be issued 180 days after the end of the fiscal year and that the report is usually published in December. Staff also told the committee that Quimby and park fees are restricted to capital improvement projects on park property or property under department jurisdiction, or for acquisition of future parkland.
Committee members approved the city attorney's draft ordinance amending the specified subsection of the municipal code on a recorded voice vote, 3-0.
The committee's action sends the ordinance amendment forward; staff said the Board of Recreation and Park Commissioners will set the adjusted rates and fees in June for a July 1 effective date.
