Get Full Government Meeting Transcripts, Videos, & Alerts Forever!
Get email alerts on the Transportation Utility Fee topic
No spam. Unsubscribe anytime.
City staff recommends residential TUF of $1.71/month and offers a lower $4.3M budget option; staff notes $7M is defensible
Summary
City staff recommended updates to the Transportation Utility Fee ordinance: adopt an ERU-based rate schedule including a residential charge of $1.71/month starting July 1, 2026, add a Producer Price Index inflator, and consider either a $4.3M budget (deferring maintenance) or the staff-preferred $7M budget.
City staff presented a packet asking the council to hold a public hearing and consider updates to the Transportation Utility Fee (TUF) ordinance in Title 12.30 and the consolidated fee schedule (Title 3.11.100).
The staff memo (authors Jenny Diersen and Jonathan Weidenhamer, Community & Economic Development) offered two principal budget scenarios: a reduced revenue option of $4.3 million that defers approximately $2.3 million per year of maintenance and would apply a $1.71/month charge to each residential dwelling unit; and the full-requirement option (roughly $7 million) that staff said is defensible to avoid deferring maintenance. The packet presents ESAL-based methodology from Hales Engineering and supporting exhibits that translate ERUs into monthly rates. Staff recommended including an annual Producer Price Index (PPI) inflator (packet uses a PPI average of Oct 2025–Feb 2026 = 3.50%) to adjust rates year over year.
The staff materials include detailed rate tables, trip and ESAL data (packet cites 305,744 daily trips with about 100,135 truck trips and 51,360 ESALs), and policy questions for council consideration: whether to reduce the budget, whether to apply fees to all residential units, whether to adopt a year-over-year inflator, and whether to maintain exemptions for nonprofits and places of worship. The packet lists model ordinance language and required reporting, appeals, and administrative recalculation procedures; it does not include a recorded council vote in the materials provided.
