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City manager outlines possible bed-tax increase, River Rock purchase delay and organics plan under SB 1383
Summary
Fortuna's city manager reported on exploring a possible increase to the transient-occupancy tax, said a Fish and Wildlife grant delay related to a federal shutdown has paused the River Rock park purchase, and described early planning for organics recycling under SB 1383 and a draft mobile-home rent-stabilization ordinance.
The Fortuna City Manager updated the council on several ongoing policy and development matters, including potential changes to the transient-occupancy (bed) tax, a delay in the planned River Rock park purchase tied to a grant agreement, organics-recycling planning to meet SB 1383 requirements, and work toward a permanent mobile-home rent-stabilization ordinance.
On revenue options, the city manager said a recent revenue-generation ad hoc meeting discussed raising the transient-occupancy tax and noted the Humboldt Lodging Alliance would need to be consulted. When asked how Fortunas rate compares with neighboring cities, the manager said the citys base rate is 10 percent with an additional 2 percent collected by the Humboldt Lodging Alliance, "so it's a total of 12 percent." He added, "We're all the same," in response to a comparison question about Arcata and Eureka.
Regarding the planned River Rock property purchase, the city manager said the State Coastal Conservancy is waiting on a grant agreement from Fish and Wildlife because of a federal government shutdown, leaving the park purchase in a holding pattern but "still in progress." The manager did not provide a timeline for resolution beyond noting the dependency on the external grant agreement.
The manager also described work with the Humboldt Waste Management Authority (HWMA) and consultant Kathleen Gallagher on how Fortuna will process organics recycling to comply with SB 1383. He noted organics material will include items such as apple cores and chicken bones and said the council will later decide whether to join HWMA for processing or to pay a residential rate for organics service.
On housing policy, the city manager said staff are continuing to develop a permanent mobile-home rent-stabilization ordinance and expect to present a matrix to the council seeking direction on process and approach before bringing back a final ordinance. The manager said he hopes to have a staff report on strategic-plan feedback to the council in December.
The city managers update identified revenue, environmental-compliance and housing policy matters that will return to the council for future deliberation; no formal policy changes or votes were taken at this meeting.
