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Defiance council adopts comprehensive fee schedule, declares emergency
Summary
Council adopted a consolidated fee ordinance intended to bring city service charges up to cost, citing many fees last updated in 2009; council asked staff to verify several large increases before implementation.
The Defiance City Council on Dec. 16 adopted a comprehensive ordinance that updates city fees for a wide range of services and declared an emergency to enact the changes immediately.
City staff told council the existing fees were scattered throughout the codified ordinances and many had not been adjusted in more than a decade. Staff said division heads collected peer benchmarks and service-cost estimates and recommended increases for many service-level fees so the city can recover actual costs and reduce general-fund subsidies.
Council members raised specific concerns during the discussion. One member noted the street-and-sidewalk permit had increased on the draft schedule from $5 to $50 and asked whether that was intentional; staff said the increases reflected benchmarking and division recommendations. Another council member flagged a change to a cemetery disinterment fee listed as increasing from $1,000 to $10,000 and asked if that was a typo; staff said they would check and noted the city had experienced a prior costly disinterment settlement, which informed a protective approach. Staff also confirmed a meter-test fee shown in the draft rising from $20 to $100 and explained readiness-to-serve rates involving township agreements.
Staff discussed ambulance/transport charges (citing national-average rate structures, for example an advanced-life-support rate format referenced as $1,300 plus $30 per mile) and noted some fees in the draft were listed with question marks to reflect services the city does not yet charge for and will review further next year. The ordinance package included tables (exhibit A) and a plan to centralize fee language for annual review.
After discussion, council moved to suspend rules and approve the ordinance; recorded voice and roll-call votes show the measure was adopted. Several council members requested follow-up checks on specific line items before implementation, and staff committed to verify a small number of unusually large or marked fees.
