West Sacramento updates community development fees to better reflect service costs

The West Sacramento City Council on Aug. 20 adopted updates to the Community Development Department’s book of fees to align user charges with the city’s cost of providing planning, building, engineering and code enforcement services.

Andrea Alisher, director of community development, said the city engaged Matrix Consulting to perform a bottom‑up cost‑of‑service study, the first comprehensive review since 2017. Findings showed several fee categories under‑recovering the full cost of services (notably planning, development engineering and code enforcement), while a few permit categories were higher than costs and were adjusted downward. The proposal includes a new general plan maintenance fee, updates to technology surcharges, restructuring of deposits and introduction of new fees for certain inspections.

Staff emphasized the update does not change development impact fees or pass‑through fees to other agencies; it targets city user fees that recover staff time and overhead. The city plans to publish an online fee estimator and to review the book of fees annually. The council received public comment from Chris Valencia of the Building Industry Association, who urged caution about cumulative impacts of small increases on development costs.

The council voted to adopt Resolution 25‑78 to amend the community development portion of the book of fees. Staff said adjustments will be phased in and staff will continue stakeholder outreach.

What’s next: staff will implement the updated fee schedule, develop the online estimator, and return with annual adjustments as needed.