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Council asks staff to draft resolutions to raise magistrate, fire prevention, building and right‑of‑way fees
Summary
Department heads presented a package of fee updates — magistrate hearings ($50 → $175 proposed), fire prevention (updates to match Collier County; ~10% revenue increase), building fees (proposed up to ~12% adding about $400,000) and right‑of‑way permits ($200 → $365) — and the council generally supported bringing those increases back as resolutions for immediate implementation.
Department heads presented a set of proposed fee changes and the council signaled general agreement to have staff prepare formal resolutions.
Captain John Wallace reviewed magistrate hearings and said each case currently costs the city about $144 while the user fee remains $50; his recommendation was to raise the magistrate fee to $175. "Each case costs us approximately $144 to put together," Wallace said. Several councilors voiced support and asked that fee items be reviewed annually to avoid future lags.
Fire Chief Chris Byrne presented an updated fire‑prevention fee schedule (last updated 2017) and said aligning the schedule with Collier County and local fire districts would make the schedule more precise and could raise roughly 10% in prevention revenue over the FY25 base ($852,000).
Dan Smith (growth management/building services) presented proposed updates for growth management and building fees that have not materially changed since 2017; he estimated fee adjustments could add roughly $250,000 (growth management) and about $400,000 (building services) in recovered revenue and help cover staffing and building maintenance needs.
Public Works (Justin Martin) proposed increasing the residential right‑of‑way permit from $200 to $365 (not raised since 2014) and adding development‑review fees (seawall reviews, SDP reviews, variance petitions) to recover inspection and review costs; staff estimated the right‑of‑way fee changes would cover about $112,000 of staff costs.
Councilors and the city manager said these fee changes will be returned as formal resolutions to be placed on a future consent agenda and could be implemented immediately once adopted. No formal votes were taken during the workshop; the council directed staff to prepare clear comparative schedules and summaries for public review.
Next steps: staff will prepare consolidated materials showing current vs. proposed fees, estimated revenue, and implementation dates; resolutions will be drafted and scheduled for council adoption.
