City staff presents master fee schedule options; commission to review and adopt later

City staff presented a draft master fee schedule that would consolidate many municipal fees into a single codified document and allow future changes by ordinance or resolution. The draft includes options for a standard 5% or 10% increase across identified fees or selectively adjusting individual fees after staff research.

Staff and the city legal advisor discussed procedural options: adopt the master fee schedule now and amend it later by resolution, or adopt with changes now. Counsel suggested establishing a master schedule with the ability to change fees by resolution, and staff said they would bring ordinances back in the next month or two with potential effective dates around Jan. 1 to align with publication and charter timelines.

Commissioners debated the policy trade-offs. One commissioner argued fees that cause the city to lose money (for example, tap or meter installation fees) should be adjusted sooner; another cautioned against using fee increases as a revenue tool because they can feel like a tax burden to residents. Staff said the schedule is a tool to make fees transparent and easier to manage, and said specific fees tied to separate ordinances (such as road-opening fees) will be addressed individually.

Next steps: staff will clean the draft, prepare associated ordinances for the commission to consider (likely at the second meeting in November), and ensure a publication method is available to meet codification requirements.