Lifetime Citizen Portal Access — AI Briefings, Alerts & Unlimited Follows
Council advances development-fee updates and moves to amend CalPERS safety‑manager cost sharing
Loading...
Summary
Council heard a staff presentation on updated development services fees aimed at aligning charges with cost of service and then introduced actions to amend CalPERS cost‑sharing for safety managers (phased reduction). Both items advanced with unanimous council support; staff will return with implementation details and required employee ratification steps for the CalPERS change.
At its March 17 meeting the Paso Robles City Council reviewed proposed updates to development-services user fees and advanced a process to reduce additional safety-manager CalPERS cost sharing.
Finance Manager Katherine Piatti and a consultant summarized phase 2 of a user-fee study focused on development-related fees (plan checks, inspections and regulatory services). Piatti said the study aims to align fees with the cost of service and that the city historically targets full cost recovery for development services. She gave an example that a typical single-family permit review and inspection could see a difference of roughly $3,000 under the recalibrated fee schedule depending on project type and deposit-based billing. "Because they're fees, they are adopted by the city council at the conclusion of the public hearing," Piatti said, noting the fee schedule will continue to be monitored annually for minor inflationary changes.
Councilmembers asked whether sliding scales or exemptions could be considered for workforce or affordable housing projects; staff said the city already offers case-by-case deferrals and fee waivers in some affordable projects and noted the difficulty of defining categories for blanket reductions. Devin from the Building Department explained partial refunds for inspection deposits are possible where work proves efficient, and staff emphasized that ADU and state preemption rules limit the city's ability to collect some fees on certain ADU projects. The council took no immediate final fee adoption action at the meeting on that item, allowing staff time to return with ordinance language and fee schedules.
Separately, staff presented a resolution of intention and the first reading of an ordinance to amend the city's CalPERS contract to reduce additional safety-manager employee cost sharing (a 3% reduction in 2026 followed by a 2% reduction in 2027). The change follows a council-approved wage-and-benefit summary and requires a secret-ballot election among affected employees before full adoption; staff said the second reading and adoption will occur April 21, with the first 3% reduction effective in May if ratified. A member of the public urged caution about changes to retirement benefits. The council introduced the ordinance and approved the resolution on unanimous votes.
