Item 18: Presentation Approving Permit Fees

[COSM_Admin]

Receive a Staff presentation and hold a public hearing to receive comments for or against Resolution 2026-168R, approving the schedule of fees for the Fiscal Year October 1, 2026 through September 30, 2027; reauthorizing building permit fees; including procedural provisions; and declaring an effective date; and consider approval of Resolution 2026-168R.

 

[arodriguez7]

San Marcos Plaza Park Stage

• Portable Toilet Cleaning - What is the reason for the 538% increase?

Activity Center Membership Fees

• RE: Resident Rates
  • What is the reason for the 40% increase in rates for residents along the Adult, Senior, Youth, and Family categories? Important to note Non-Resident increases for those same subcategories account for around 5% each.
  • Will current members be grandfathered?
  • Assuming these are annual rates, are monthly payment plans available?
  • Are there reduced rate options for residents in need? Ex. Financial considerations within the Lime Contract for reduced rates

Activity Center Additional Fees

• Staff Fee - Outside Business Hours
  • This fee is listed twice, one mentioning per hour and one not. How are these distinguished given that one is increasing by 1,751%?

Gary Softball Complex

• Youth Practice Field (no lights) - What is the rationale for the 1,650% increase per hour?

Juan Veramendi Plaza, Rio Vista Park Pavilion, Rio Vista Park Picnic Area, Ramon Lucio Park Pavilion, Children’s Park Pavilion, and Children’s Park Picnic Area

• For all of these categories, are the “Non-Resident” and “Jumping Castle Permit” inverse?

Special Events

• Do these fee proposals account for the demand and uniqueness of the most recent Block Party hosted downtown and any similar future events?

Neighborhood Enhancement Fees

• Temporary Event Permit (14 days)
  • Very pleased to see the proposed decrease. Given council is scheduled to discuss this fee, should council determine a lower rate is more appropriate, would any changes supersede and replace the one listed here? Including any potential changes to the longevity of the permit.

 

[JHughson]

Does anyone at the city use THIS document with the fees listed?
The print is small and given the excessive column widths, it’s not easy to follow from title to fee.
Printing won’t help.
I can enlarge it on my PC screen but then I can’t read it all across.

I thought we are doing 1/3 of the fees every three years. This is a pretty long list.
Please provide the general categories we will do next year and what we did last year. Or are they all here? ARF notes every three years.

ACTIVITY CENTER
We raised the Activity Center rentals fees substantially a few years ago and made some other operational changes at the same time. It included charging for more hours that were not charged in previous years (setup and cleanup). The sum of those changes caused several organizations to find space elsewhere for their long-time activities. I think the operational changes on top of the increase in fees was not advisable and I’m not sure we were told about it at the time.

So what else is being done, price-wise, at the Activity Center this year?

Anything else that affects fees?

ACTIVITY CENTER ACTIVITY CENTER ADDITIONAL FEES
I see the screen fee is increased, but previously someone had to bring in the screen and set it up.
Now there are electronic screens in the room. Is this to build a reserve to replace the electronic screens?

RIO VISTA POOL PARTIES
Why is the non-resident 1-30 people rate higher than all the other group sizes?

LIBRARY
Why are the out-of-county resident cards lower than before but the limited card is higher?

ANIMAL SHELTER FEES
How often do we actually charge these fees?
I thought we were going to change “disposal” to a term less dramatic.?

SPECIAL EVENT FEES
How about a fee for non-profits that is different (and lower) from fees for an event by a commercial entity who intends to profit from the event?

BUILDING FEES (under P&DS)
I thought we were going to create a new (lower) fee for the pop-up events. ???
What did we do on that topic?

NEIGHBORHOOD ENHANCEMENT FEES – HEALTH
I make note of this every time I see this fee. The Short Term Rental was initially called a “Home Share” and there’s a story about that I won’t tell here.

Are we ever going to at least show this fee as “Short Term Rental” on the list of fees? Because if I was looking to see what the Short Term Rental fee is, considering doing this, I wouldn’t find it. I know “Home Share” got deeply established in our fees but we should at least show the fee on the list as “Short Term Rental/Home Share.”
And is this fee enough for the staff time it takes to check on these?
This is one day, or less, of a room rental…

OTHER ELECTRIC CHARGES/FEES and water/wastewater
We have had some extensive discussions about re-connect fees and changing them. I don’t see any reductions here (but no increases either, so that’s good).. Do we need to place that on an agenda to formalize that discussion?

And for many of these fees, New Customer, etc. , there wasn’t a fee in FY25?

 

[COSM_Admin]

Response below in green provided by Trisha Patek, Budget Manager

San Marcos Plaza Park Stage

• Portable Toilet Cleaning - What is the reason for the 538% increase?

This fee is reflective of the actual cost charged by the vendor for portable toilet rental and cleaning fees. The City was greatly undercharging for that service prior. The charge is per toilet, per service.


Activity Center Membership Fees

• RE: Resident Rates
  • What is the reason for the 40% increase in rates for residents along the Adult, Senior, Youth, and Family categories? Important to note Non-Resident increases for those same subcategories account for around 5% each.

The City’s review of peer cities showed that the average resident rate charged was 83% more than what the City of San Marcos charges residents. Rather than adopting such a large increase immediately, staff used an incremental approach, which advances us toward our cost recovery goal without creating a significant burden. The non-resident rate is more in-line with our peer cities so the increase is not as high.

• Will current members be grandfathered?

No. Current members will keep their existing rates until their renewal date. Once they renew, the updated rates will apply.

• Assuming these are annual rates, are monthly payment plans available?

Monthly payment plans are available for the Family Memberships only. All other memberships are a one-time payment.

• Are there reduced rate options for residents in need? Ex. Financial considerations within the Lime Contract for reduced rates

Yes, we offer Silver Sneakers and Optum Fitness for those that qualify. We also offer scholarships for the Activity Center Youth Membership (along with other departmental youth programming).

Activity Center Additional Fees

• Staff Fee - Outside Business Hours
  • This fee is listed twice, one mentioning per hour and one not. How are these distinguished given that one is increasing by 1,751%?

The second one should be labeled as Damage/Misconduct fee. It was not originally included in the sheet and is now added and shown below. The $500 is what is listed in our rental agreement but needed to be included in this fee schedule for Council approval.

Gary Softball Complex

• Youth Practice Field (no lights) - What is the rationale for the 1,650% increase per hour?

The Fee Schedule sheet was incorrect and has been updated and shown below. The Youth Practice field with no lights has been raised from $20 per hour, per field to $36.00 per hour, per field.

Juan Veramendi Plaza, Rio Vista Park Pavilion, Rio Vista Park Picnic Area, Ramon Lucio Park Pavilion, Children’s Park Pavilion, and Children’s Park Picnic Area

• For all of these categories, are the “Non-Resident” and “Jumping Castle Permit” inverse?

The Fee Schedule sheet was incorrect and has been updated and shown below. The Jumping Castle Permit has been raised from $52 to $55 (one-time fee) across the board.

Special Events

• Do these fee proposals account for the demand and uniqueness of the most recent Block Party hosted downtown and any similar future events?

The current fee proposals do not fully account for the level of demand, scale, or unique operational needs associated with major events such as the recent downtown Block Party. Events of that size require significantly more City resources both in planning and in on‑site support than smaller or shorter‑duration events. To address this, we could benefit from developing a tiered fee structure that more accurately aligns charges with the size, duration, and overall impact of each event. A tiered system would allow us to differentiate between small community gatherings, mid‑sized events, and large‑scale activations, ensuring fees are proportionate to the resources required. This approach would create a fairer and more sustainable model for both organizers and the City, especially as demand grows for large, complex events.

Now that we have had the special events ordinance in place for 2.5 years, we plan to evaluate its effectiveness and bring back recommended amendments for Council consideration. Implementing a tier structure for events of different size and complexity will be one of the topics we look at.

Neighborhood Enhancement Fees

• Temporary Event Permit (14 days)
  • Very pleased to see the proposed decrease. Given council is scheduled to discuss this fee, should council determine a lower rate is more appropriate, would any changes supersede and replace the one listed here? Including any potential changes to the longevity of the permit.

Yes, any changes made by Council subsequent to the approval of the fee schedule will amend the fee schedule and will be reflected in the annual adoption of the schedule of fees.

 

[COSM_Admin]

Response below in green provided by Trisha Patek, Budget Manager

Does anyone at the city use THIS document with the fees listed?
The print is small and given the excessive column widths, it’s not easy to follow from title to fee.
Printing won’t help.
I can enlarge it on my PC screen but then I can’t read it all across.

Thank you for the feedback. The attached schedule of fees has updated formatting to improve readability.


I thought we are doing 1/3 of the fees every three years. This is a pretty long list.
Please provide the general categories we will do next year and what we did last year. Or are they all here? ARF notes every three years.

Yes, staff maintains a schedule to review general categories every three years. Police and Animal Shelter fees will be reviewed in FY 2027. Parks & Recreation and Library fees were reviewed in FY 2026. The items in red reflect the changes due to either the 3% increase per budget policy or as a result of the fees being reviewed in FY 2026.

This schedule includes the full list of fees, totaling 9 pages. Below are the page numbers for the general categories:
Page 1: Parks & Recreation
Page 2: Parks & Recreations
Page 3: Parks & Recreation, Police, Library, and Neighborhood Enhancement-Animal Shelter
Page 4: Neighborhood Enhancement-Animal Shelter, Special Events, Cemetery, Planning & Development
Page 5: Planning & Development
Page 6: Planning & Development
Page 7: Planning & Development
Page 8: Planning & Development, Electric Utility, Water/Wastewater Utility
Page 9: Water/Wastewater Utility, Emergency Medical Services

ACTIVITY CENTER
We raised the Activity Center rentals fees substantially a few years ago and made some other operational changes at the same time. It included charging for more hours that were not charged in previous years (setup and cleanup). The sum of those changes caused several organizations to find space elsewhere for their long-time activities. I think the operational changes on top of the increase in fees was not advisable and I’m not sure we were told about it at the time.

So what else is being done, price-wise, at the Activity Center this year?
What you see on this fee sheet is all that is being adjusted or increased. We have not updated any rental fees since 2021.


Anything else that affects fees?
The peer review study showed that peer cities charge 90% more than we do for Activity Center-similar rentals. We felt that an increase of that size was too great; however, the proposed fee increases reflect our incremental approach to achieving cost recovery goals. Our operational budget has remained flat for the last three fiscal years while operational costs for preventative maintenance and repairs has continued to rise with inflation.


ACTIVITY CENTER ACTIVITY CENTER ADDITIONAL FEES
I see the screen fee is increased, but previously someone had to bring in the screen and set it up.
Now there are electronic screens in the room. Is this to build a reserve to replace the electronic screens?
No, this is to cover staff time that is needed to lower screens down, help troubleshoot, etc. as our staff is trained and this is not left to the customer because of its complexity. There are also on-going costs associated with maintaining the equipment.


RIO VISTA POOL PARTIES
Why is the non-resident 1-30 people rate higher than all the other group sizes?
The Fee Schedule sheet was incorrect and has been updated and shown below. Rio Vista Pool Party for non-residents with 1-30 people has been raised from $223 to $280.

LIBRARY
Why are the out-of-county resident cards lower than before but the limited card is higher?
To simplify the structure, the library's operating budget was divided by our population. The amount that we "charge" our residents for library services is closer to $30.00/year, which is what makes the most sense to charge an out-of-county resident for a full-service annual card.

The processing time to check if the patron is a former cardholder, make the cards, explain the "rules" associated with the cards, and get the patron to their materials runs roughly $15.00 per card (for any type of library card). This is why the Limited-Service Card went up to $15, this allows us to recover the cost of the service and is half the cost of the Full-Service Annual Card.

ANIMAL SHELTER FEES
How often do we actually charge these fees?
I thought we were going to change “disposal” to a term less dramatic.?

• We often reduce/waive adoption fees.
• Quarantine fees are always charged and paid up front.
• Redemptions fees are charged on an "ability to pay" basis. If paying the fee is a barrier to redeeming your animal, we'd rather them pick up their animal vs. leaving it at the shelter.
• We are referring residents who wish to euthanize their animals to PALS; I hadn't heard that there was a request to change the word "disposal". I'm happy to change it to something more palatable (aftercare for deceased animals)? The service is still available to our residents if PALS doesn't have the capacity.
• We are not the volunteer program registration fee.
• We removed pet registrations from the ordinance and ask that owners get their pets microchipped, which essentially takes the place of the registration. There is a charge for microchips and often offer free clinics.
• We are charging everything under the Commercial Animal Dealer, Commercial Kennel, and Other Fees areas.

SPECIAL EVENT FEES
How about a fee for non-profits that is different (and lower) from fees for an event by a commercial entity who intends to profit from the event?
Under our existing structure, we only charge differently based on a single‑day event versus a multiple day event. This flat approach does not reflect the wide range of resource needs we encounter. Developing a tiered system would allow us to more appropriately align fees with event size, duration, and operational demands. This would ensure fairness to organizers while supporting sustainable cost recovery for the City. To illustrate the variation between recent events:

• All three parades held this weekend incurred a total of only $65.00 in fees each.
• The Block Party at Zelicks incurred $475.00 in fees.
• The Downtown Block Party due to its larger footprint and higher resource needs paid $1,736.00 in fees.
• Eddie Durham Festival incurred $115.00 in fees

A tiered structure would help ensure smaller community events remain accessible, while larger, high‑impact events contribute proportionately to the resources required to support them.


BUILDING FEES (under P&DS)
I thought we were going to create a new (lower) fee for the pop-up events. ???
What did we do on that topic?

At the May 5th City Council meeting, Council passed Resolution 2026-76R which amended the City's Schedule of Fees to create. These were not included in the schedule of fees attached to this agenda item and should have been. The schedule of fees has been updated, shown below, and now includes the two fees listed below:

1. "Temporary Vendor in Public Parking Space" - $50.00 (up to four spaces) - located in the Special Events Section of the Schedule of Fees.

1. Conditional Use Permit (Distance Measurement Variance) - $260.00

 

[COSM_Admin]

NEIGHBORHOOD ENHANCEMENT FEES – HEALTH
I make note of this every time I see this fee. The Short Term Rental was initially called a “Home Share” and there’s a story about that I won’t tell here.

Are we ever going to at least show this fee as “Short Term Rental” on the list of fees? Because if I was looking to see what the Short Term Rental fee is, considering doing this, I wouldn’t find it. I know “Home Share” got deeply established in our fees but we should at least show the fee on the list as “Short Term Rental/Home Share.”
And is this fee enough for the staff time it takes to check on these?
This is one day, or less, of a room rental…

The attached schedule of fees has been revised to include both as recommended, also shown below.

View attachment 1749



No, the fee is not sufficiently recovering staff costs. Neighborhood Enhancement Fees – Health are scheduled to be reviewed in FY 2028.


OTHER ELECTRIC CHARGES/FEES and water/wastewater
We have had some extensive discussions about re-connect fees and changing them. I don’t see any reductions here (but no increases either, so that’s good).. Do we need to place that on an agenda to formalize that discussion?
The Electric “reconnect charge – normal hours” was reduced from $40 in FY25 to $20 in FY26 and renamed “Reconnect Fee (Residential)”. This fee remains unchanged for FY27. The Water reconnect fee also remains unchanged from FY25 through FY27 (In FY25 this was the “Reconnect Charge – Normal Hours”). Staff reviewed the process and associated cost of providing each utility service to develop the recommended fees. These services fall outside the routine services recovered through utility rates, and the related fees are intended to recover the cost of providing the specific service. Staff presented the methodology and associated costs to the CUAB (Citizens Utility Advisory Board) in support of the recommended fee schedule for FY26. Other utility service fees are scheduled to be reevaluated during FY28, with any recommended changes proposed to take effect in FY29. However, if Council would like to revisit the reconnection fees before then, staff can place the item on a future agenda for discussion and direction.


And for many of these fees, New Customer, etc. , there wasn’t a fee in FY25?

The descriptions were edited and cleaned up for clarification between FY25 to FY26. Previously the fees listed normal hours versus after hours. This was updated to reflect residential and commercial. The only new charge in FY26 was Customer Trip Fee.