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Mill Creek holds public hearing on citywide master fee schedule; staff frames modest, targeted increases
Summary
Mill Creek city staff presented a proposed master fee schedule to align hourly rates and permit fees with peer cities and recover costs; council opened and closed the hearing with no public testimony and scheduled adoption consideration at the next meeting.
Mill Creek city staff presented a proposed citywide master fee schedule during a public hearing on Dec. 2, outlining targeted fee updates to bring the city in line with peer jurisdictions and to recover staff costs.
Deputy City Manager Adrian Garcia said many fees had not been updated in decades and described the study that compared Mill Creek against nearby cities. Staff proposed CPI‑based adjustments for parks and recreation, a larger plan‑review percentage for building permits (raising plan review from 65% to 70% of fees), higher hourly rates for development reviews, double fees for weekend/holiday inspections, and specific adjustments such as a bridal license fee change from $5 to $50 to match neighboring municipalities. Garcia emphasized the package is intended as a modest revenue source, not a major budget solution.
Councilors asked for clarifications on several items: how proposed changes would reduce portable classrooms indirectly (in the context of the Everett Schools presentation), how the district parcel on Bothell Avenue might be used for a future school, treatment of nonprofit food giveaways versus commercial food trucks at city events, and whether the city has the enforcement capacity for annual license checks (for example, dog licenses). Staff said food‑truck policy would be developed separately and that mobile vendor licensing coordination with the Department of Revenue is ongoing.
The council moved to open the public hearing; staff and council reported no sign‑ups and no members of the public testified online or in chambers. The hearing was closed at 7:18 p.m.; staff said the ordinance to adopt the master fee schedule will come back for action at the council's December meeting, and that specific fee lines could be amended at that time if councilors move to do so.
