Finance committee backs citywide fee schedule update, recommends council hold public hearing

The Tracy Finance Committee on April 29 recommended that the City Council open a public hearing and consider adopting an updated Citywide Master Fee Schedule that applies a proposed 2.4% inflationary increase and adds or clarifies several department fees.

Financial analyst Sarah Romanda told the committee the consolidated schedule covers fees across Finance, City Clerk and Communications, Cultural Arts and Grand Theater, Recreation Services, Community and Economic Development (planning and building safety), Public Safety and Animal Services, Public Works, Utilities and Engineering. Romanda said the proposed 2.4% increase reflects the Consumer Price Index for the San Francisco–Oakland–Hayward metropolitan area from December 2023 to December 2024.

Romanda said the schedule excludes development impact fees adopted under the Mitigation Fee Act (AB 1600), habitat and agricultural mitigation fees, business license taxes, enterprise fund charges, leases, special district assessments and certain state-mandated or contractor-set rates. She told the committee the City currently recovers about 71% of costs associated with fee-related services and that the proposed schedule would recover roughly 70% of costs once the CPI adjustments and exceptions are applied.

New or revised items in the draft schedule include post-production services and a fly pack from the Communications Division, a partial-permit revisions fee in Building, digital copy media fees for CPRA requests in Police, a microchip fee for Animal Services, FlexNet (radio-read) charges in Utilities, a reinspection fee in Engineering, reorganized Recreation class categories and a food vendor permit for community events. Romanda said some fees remain unchanged for affordability reasons, including Grand Theater rates.

Committee members asked for clarification on who would pay certain Communications Division charges; Karen (staff) said the fees would apply primarily to private or nonprofit special events that request City communications services (the city would not charge its own departments). No members of the public offered formal comment on this item during the meeting.

Co-Chair Abercrombie moved that the committee forward the proposal to City Council for a public hearing; the motion passed on a roll call vote of Chairperson Evans — yes; Co-Chair Abercrombie — yes.

The item will proceed to City Council with staff’s recommendation that the council conduct a public hearing and consider adopting a resolution rescinding the prior fee-resolution and adopting the updated Citywide Master Fee Schedule effective July 1, 2025 (staff-proposed effective date listed in the agenda packet).