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Council opens public hearing and approves citywide fee schedule update amid budget shortfall
Summary
The council approved a citywide update to fees and charges that adds new fees, modifies dozens of existing fees and is projected to generate roughly $6.9 million in additional revenue (general and other funds); council kept the door open to change specific fees during final budget adoption.
The Sacramento City Council opened and closed a public hearing on the FY2025–26 citywide fees and charges schedule and unanimously approved staff’s report to update the schedule, a step staff characterized as informational ahead of final budget adoption.
Finance staff presented a package that proposes adding 33 new fees, modifying 251 and deleting 50 fees across seven departments, with an initial revenue estimate of about $5.6 million for the general fund and $1.3 million for other funds (a total of approximately $6.9 million). The presentation noted a classification correction from the earlier packet that reallocated some convention and cultural fees to the appropriate fund. Staff told council the changes are intended to improve cost recovery and reflect current service levels; a comprehensive two‑year citywide fee study is underway.
Multiple business and industry speakers urged the council to limit or phase fee increases to avoid compounding cost pressures on small employers and developers. The council took the public hearing and voted to approve the report on the record; staff reminded the body that final decisions about individual fee changes can still be made during budget deliberations on June 10.
Votes at a glance
- Motion: Open/close public hearing and adopt the citywide fee schedule report for consideration in the FY2025–26 budget process. Vote: 9‑0.
Why it matters
The citywide fee updates are part of staff’s broader budget balancing strategy and will affect municipal service users — businesses, developers and residents — if specific fee changes are included in the final budget. Councilmembers asked staff to provide justification details for higher‑impact charges and to identify alternatives where changes would disproportionately affect small businesses.
What’s next
Changes in the fee schedule will be folded into the June budget adoption process. Staff will continue the broader fee study to align charges across departments and comparable jurisdictions.
