09/24/1990 Meeting - Laserfiche WebLink

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e As a member of the Council Committee on Development Services, Councilor Boles provided the council with a report on the committee's recommendations. He pointed out several basic principles which guided the committee's deliberations. The committee felt that it was important that any change in the current method of fee support be implemented gradually. Also, the committee felt that hardships and/or additional costs associated with the appeals system should highly influence the ultimate fee to be paid. When considering the amount of fees which would be levied, Mr. Bennett asked whether the committee compared the proposed fees with fees currently charged by other jurisdictions. In response, Mr. Boles said that the committee did some comparison with other jurisdictions. Mr. Bennett pointed out that one benefit of General Fund support is that it allows an annual review of the cost to the City of providing a service. He voiced concern that without this annual review, the City's ability to monitor fees would be reduced. Mr. Boles responded that the committee recognized this concern and suggested that the City contract with an independent auditor to serve that evaluative function. Responding to a question from Mr. Rutan, Mr. Boles said that there are administrative caps on the amount the City can charge for some services. In some cases, the committee has suggested that the City pursue legislative action to raise these cap limitations. Mr. Mounts also noted that in the case of building permits, if a jurisdiction can show that it needs to charge more for the services than the present ceiling allows to recover the full e cost, it may be able to do so. Mr. Boles summarized the committee's recommendations: A. Direct Customer Services 1. Annexation The committee recommends that the current level of general tax support be maintained. This recommendation supports the council's policy to encourage annexation activity within the urban growth boundary. Mr. Bennett pointed out that the presence of individual annexation requests demonstrates that annexation provides some benefit to individuals. He felt that the current level of tax support should be reduced and that fees should be increased. Mr. Holmer disagreed. He felt that the City should be encouraging annexation and said that increasing fees would only discourage annexation. 2. Business/liquor licenses Mr. Boles stated that business license fees are established to recover the full cost of providing the service. The committee recommends that liquor license review fees should be increased to the State ceiling and that the e City pursue legislative action to raise the ceiling. MINUTES--Eugene City Council September 24, 1990 Page 2