Santa Paula council adopts updated user-fee schedule after debate over CPI escalation, park fees and enforcement charges

The Santa Paula City Council on Oct. 15 adopted a revised user-fee schedule after a public hearing and extended discussion on how fees should be adjusted for inflation and how certain enforcement and service-call charges should be applied.

Staff presentation: Christy Ramirez, who led the fee study presentation with consultant Preeti (on Zoom), summarized a cost-allocation study that identifies roughly $5.7 million in allocable administrative costs and recommended several new or clarified fees across departments, including new parks-and-recreation fees for buildings and fields, water meter installation and a $69 "general services" call charge for certain nonemergency water-system service calls.

Council debate and edits: Council members debated whether annual CPI increases should occur automatically across all fees and whether deposits should be escalated. Council members raised legal limits on statutorily regulated fees (for example, reconnect fees under SB 998) and pushed to ensure the council retains review authority. After discussion the council agreed to amend the resolution so that "fee adjustments based on the prior calendar year's annual average consumer price index for the Los Angeles region will be reviewed during the regular budget process," and added language that adjustments must not exceed the cost of providing the service.

On enforcement and nuisance charges, staff and the city attorney clarified the municipal-code cross-references and practice of issuing warnings before citations. Police explained that special police-service costs may be assessed for repeat disturbance responses; council directed language clarifying that certain party/noise responses are charged under the municipal code and that first contacts are typically warnings.

Council action: Speaker 5 moved to receive and adopt the resolution as amended; the motion passed on roll call 4-1. The roll call showed Councilmembers Crosswhite, Cornejo, Ornelas and Vice Mayor Juarez voting yes; Mayor Chavez voted no.

Notable items in the revision: parks-and-recreation rates were adjusted to reflect 10 years without increases (category-2 nonprofit youth field use moving from $8 to $12 per hour); the parks director said the sports-park charge accounts for multiple lined fields under a single booking. Staff also clarified water service procedures: the $69 general-service call is intended to recoup staff time when a customer requests a site visit for private-plumbing issues, and it will not be charged if a system-side issue is found.

Next steps: The resolution, as adopted, takes effect per state posting requirements (staff noted a 60-day waiting period for fee changes); staff will post the final fee schedule on the city website and perform additional outreach to user groups in coming months.

Representative quotes from the hearing include the amendment as read into the record by the city attorney: "Fee adjustments based on the prior calendar year's annual average consumer price index for the Los Angeles region will be reviewed during the regular budget process." Greg Barnes, parks and rec director, summarized the nonprofit rate change: "The sports fields right now for basically a non-profit group would be $12 an hour."