The Hermosa Beach City Council got its first look at a consultant’s study recommending a $929,000 net increase in fees charged to businesses and residents for inspections and permits, and a wide array of recreational and other services.
Council members offered varied reactions to the study on Tuesday night, and said recommendations for any fee increases would be presented to Hermosans at a public hearing – perhaps on Tuesday, April 26 – before any would be enacted.
The fee study, the first in five years, contains recommendations that would raise some fees, lower others, and impose some new fees in an attempt to cover the city’s costs of providing inspections and other services.
Among big ticket items with the largest potential increases, the study recommends a 200 percent increase in the fee for a conditional use permit application, required for some businesses, to $4,800, and a 191 percent increase in the fee for a parking plan application for a business, to $5,100.
The study recommends a 156 percent increase in the fee charged to a business requesting a review of its occupancy limit, to $895.
New fees would be imposed for a private special event permit ($455), the requested pickup of a dead animal ($50), inspection of a home in which an animal must be quarantined ($50) and the review of a request to exceed the city’s dog-per-household limit ($100).
Other new fees would include $295 to $585 for inspection of fire sprinkler systems and $145 to $295 for inspection of fire alarm systems.
Councilman Michael DiVirgilio said he wants to wait until the municipal budget for the next fiscal year is being hammered out to weigh possible fee increases “within the larger budget discussion.”
He recalled a council attempt in January to consider steep increases in parking permit fees for residents, which was met with scorching emails that filled 85 pages printed out, and an angry crowd that overflowed the council chambers.
“I’m really nervous about this, especially given the way we struggled over parking permit fees,” DiVirgilio said. “I think this is going to be a version of that.”
Mayor Pete Tucker called on city workers to streamline their processes and work more efficiently to keep costs down.
“We need to reinvent the wheel here…I want this city to be efficient. I want people to come here and say this is a great place to do business,” he said.
“I think [city] staff needs to work with this also and reduce the time they take to do some of these things,” Tucker said.
Councilman Howard Fishman said the study reflects the costs of services that must be paid for one way or another.
“It might sound harsh but we are a business, we are a government,” he said.
“This report is pretty much the standard…this is pretty much the recommendation based on the cost in staff hours,” he added.
Fishman said if members of the public find any increases “onerous,” they will have a chance to weigh in at the public hearing.
He added that he did not like some of the recommendations.
City Manager Steve Burrell told the council that when the cost of a city service is not covered by the fees charged, the remaining portion is covered by taxpayers who do not use the service.
Council members balked at suggestions by the consultant to charge the nonprofit Hermosa Arts Foundation and youth sports leagues undetermined amounts to use the municipal theaters and ball fields.
Council members agreed to discuss the funding situation with the foundation and sports leagues, and see how their existing arrangements might be changed. They pointed out that the Arts Foundation and Hermosa Beach Little League raise money for improvements to city facilities, and applauded the work of the organizations to involve kids in sports and to bring arts and entertainment to the community.
Tucker said it would be “sacrilegious” to make Little League pay to turn on the Clark Field lights for the first time in 60 years.
Under the study recommendations, fees for some city summer camps would go up 25 percent.
Fees to process business licenses are under study by a special committee and were not included in the fee study.
Fees for fire inspections of auto shops and gas stations, which have drawn recent fire from businesspeople, would be reduced 50 percent under the study’s recommendations. ER
