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Staff proposes raising tree surety fee from $350 to $550; commission forwards resolution to common council
Summary
Parks staff presented a resolution to update the developer 'tree surety' fee from $350 (set in 2003) to $550 per tree with a later increase to $600 and an annual inflation-indexed adjustment starting in 2030; the commission approved forwarding the resolution to common council on April 20.
Rick (parks staff) told the commission the tree surety fee charged to developers has not been updated since 2003 and no longer reflects current planting and contractor costs.
"The tree surety, account, or I should say the fee charged to developers is currently $350 per tree, which was approved on 02/10/2003," Rick said. He said recent low bids have risen from about $255 four years ago to about $326 most recently, and that second-low bids in recent years have been in the $500–$550 range.
To address the gap between current fees and market costs, Rick proposed increasing the fee to $550 per tree now and a second increase to $600 per tree in 2029. He also proposed instituting an annual increase tied to the rate of inflation beginning in 2030 (staff estimated about 2–2.5% and said it would be revisited annually).
Commissioners discussed timing and whether to accelerate the second increase; Rick said the Department of Community Development would retain authority to revisit fees on an annual basis. Upon commission approval, Rick said the resolution will be transmitted to the common council for final action on April 20.
The commission moved, seconded and carried the motion to approve the proposal and send it to the council; no roll-call vote was recorded in the transcript.
