La Cañada adopts new fee schedule to make up for planning and design costs
To better recover municipal costs associated with planning and design reviews, and to bring La Cañada’s service fees more in line with what other cities charge, City Council members adopted Tuesday a comprehensive master fee schedule.
The schedule — which details fees and charges associated with various applications, permits and reviews — hadn’t been revisited since a consultant-led fee study in 2007 and was in need of updating given the new regulations and fees that have been added in the past nine years, management intern Christina Nguyen told council members.
“For example, in 2007, the administration department updated the fee for processing permits for filming and still photography. (And) in 2015, the finance department added fees for construction placards and contractor’s vehicle stickers,” Nguyen said.
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The new, consolidated schedule also makes adjustments for higher hourly wages for personnel involved in activities, such as electricians and traffic engineers, and more accurate estimates of the hours and minutes required by staff to complete certain services.
A $10 fee increase to $85 for the first hour of electrical usage at Memorial Park accounts for 45 minutes of an electrician’s time, estimated at $95 hourly, 6% of a division manager’s own hourly $147.76 plus a $5 electricity charge imposed by Southern California Edison, according to city documents.
Seeking a private encroachment into the city’s public right of way will cost $175 — to help recover approximately two hours of time from the Public Works director and city manager, who earn hourly rates of $247 and $175 respectively, in addition to outside consultant time.
Mayor Jon Curtis asked Nguyen whether she researched what nearby cities, such as Glendale and Pasadena, currently charge residents for similar services.
“They’re definitely charging a bit more than we are,” Nguyen said of municipalities in the San Fernando and San Gabriel valleys.
Finance Director Dan Jordan and City Manager Mark Alexander told council members that even with the new document, officials may want to consider getting another consultant fee study to further refine the schedule.
“Certainly we want to make this a regular part of our annual review process and not get to the point where it got in 2007,” Jordan said. “At some point, particularly if we’re thinking about moving around facilities … we might want to update the entire fee study in addition to just regularly updating the fees themselves.”
Council members thanked Nguyen for taking on an enormous task.
“This is obviously long overdue,” Mayor Pro Tem Mike Davitt said of the update. “We’re getting close to ‘reality’ charges. We’re still a little less, it sounds like, but that’s OK. We deliver good service for less — that’s our motto.”
In other business, council members officially approved ordinances on their second readings that aim to regulate businesses offering massage services and establish new rules and fees for residents who wish to cultivate marijuana, the recreational use of which was legalized by California in the November election.
Those new decisions will allow massage businesses to operate within the city’s community planned development (CPD) zone with a conditional use permit and establish permit and licensing fees for massage businesses and personal marijuana cultivation.
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Sara Cardine, sara.cardine@latimes.com
Twitter: @SaraCardine
