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Bulverde council adopts higher planning and development fees after staff finds current charges lag costs
Summary
Bulverde City Council adopted revised planning and development fees, citing roughly 31% inflation since 2019 and evidence that the city was subsidizing work such as drainage reviews that can cost about $5,000–$7,000 while fees collected were roughly $2,500.
Bulverde City Council voted to update the city’s planning and development fee schedule after staff said the current charges no longer cover the municipal cost of reviews and inspections.
The council adopted the ordinance amending chapter 16 to raise and clarify fees after a staff presentation that found the last comprehensive fee update was in 2019 and that cumulative inflation since then is about 31 percent. A staff member said the city has been subsidizing development work, citing drainage reviews as a concrete example: “Those have been running in the five to $7,000 range. We’re collecting about 2,500, I think,” the staff member said.
Why it matters: State law requires that development fees be grounded in the city’s actual cost of providing services rather than used to generate revenue. Council members pressed staff on methodology and how the city would handle third‑party contract fees; staff replied that fees were developed by analyzing the city’s inputs and outputs across permit categories and modeling current contract and inspection costs.
Council reaction and next steps: Members asked that fees be revisited regularly. One councilman said he would like an annual review; staff said a plan is in place to begin a regular cycle of fee updates. The presenter also noted a state rule that can automatically repeal fees if they are not reviewed within a statutory period, underlining the need for a scheduled review.
The council approved the ordinance by voice vote; the transcript records the motion and passage but does not give a roll‑call tally.
Clarifying details: Staff reported the drainage‑review cost estimate range of roughly $5,000–$7,000 and that the city was collecting about $2,500 for those reviews; the proposed schedule adjusts multiple permit categories to better reflect projected costs. Staff said some fee items will use outside invoices (third‑party review) as the basis for recovery when appropriate.
What’s next: Staff will incorporate the adopted schedule into the city fee ordinance and begin implementing the regular review cycle to reduce future shortfalls.
