Novato Council To Examine Citywide Fees At Public Meeting

NOVATO, CA -- On Tuesday, Nov. 9 at 6 p.m., the Novato City Council is expected to conduct a public hearing to consider adopting a resolution to update and establish user and regulatory fees for fee-related city services.

The City of Novato charges fees for a variety of specific services provided including, but not limited to:

Building fees, e.g. - permitting of new construction or modifications to existing structures; planning fees, e.g. - entitlement review and review for compliance with the zoning codes; land Development Engineering fees, e.g. - review and inspection of requests for subdivision and grading; encroachment permitting fees, e.g. - for work or activities conducted in the city right-of-way; and police department fees, e.g. - vehicle impound and false alarm response fees.

The City of Novato has been working with ClearSource Financial Consulting to complete a citywide user and regulatory fee study. The fee study provides an up-to-date analysis of the city’s current costs of providing fee-related services while also ensuring that the city maintains compliance with state and local policies, and continues to meet the needs of the community.

The benefits of reviewing and updating user fees, according to the City of Novato, include reducing the need for General Fund subsidy which would increase the revenues that can be used for services and activities available to all Novato community members; providing a pattern of consistency with information for forecasting and decision-making purposes; and helping meet service level expectations by collecting fees to fund the existing level of services provided.

Other benefits, according to the city, are keeping pace with general cost inflation; avoiding fee spikes that are more likely to occur when municipalities leave fees unchanged for a multi-year period and encouraging equity among fee payers.

The Proposed Fee Schedule is available to review online at novato.org/finance