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CHUBBUCK
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Memo
To: Honorable Mayor & City Council
Community Services Department
290 E Linden Ave., Chubbuck, ID 83202
208.237.2430
www.CityofChubbuck.us
From: Devin Hillam, Community Services Director
Date: June 28, 2022
Re: Discussion on Community Services Department Fees
As the new budget year arrives and City Staff reviews and assembles fee proposals for Council
consideration, I'm seeking guidance from the Council about how much, if any, of the services/programs
within the Community Services Department should be subsidized by property taxes compared with
user/applicant fees. With some guidance from Council, I will be able to bring our recommendations to you
as part of the larger City fee resolution public hearing and discussion. For your information, the divisions
within the department and their general functions are:
Development Services: Plats, Public Infrastructure Inspections
• Planning: Planning & Zoning related applications
• Building: Residential and Commercial Building Permits
• Parks & Recreation: City Parks and certain other City -owned properties
For a few years, the City has been using an electronic timesheet program which gives us the ability
to track time spent on various categories. Now with enough time, we've been able to create reports to find
on average, how much time and personnel hours are spent doing X, Y, or Z types of functions. On the
attachment, I provide information about time spent, personnel costs, the number of permits, the currently
adopted fee, and breakeven fees considering benefits and without benefits over the past year. None of the
cost calculations consider costs such as time by the City Attorney and Clerk, administrative staff, or other
J:\Administration\Community Services Dept Admin\Fiscal Year Fee Proposals\6.28.22 Fee Discussion
with Council at 7.6 Study Session.docx 1
costs related to the building, power, computers, vehicles, fuel, etc. There are clearly deficiencies in what we
are collecting now via fees versus what our actual costs are, and State law would allow us to adopt such
reasonable fees associated with actual costs and so, if the Council would like, we could propose fees to ask
development to pay for itself, we could keep fees the same, or we could go somewhere in the middle. After
having reviewed fees from jurisdictions around Idaho, the vast majority appear to cover the costs of the
application review/function and that is my recommendation for the Council to consider.
Parks & Recreation. By function, there's a broad community benefit to offering parks and recreation
facilities and services to the public- there is an economic benefit to our businesses as out -of -area visitors
attend tournaments or the splash pad, there's a placemaking component to providing great public space
and programs, and there's simply an expectation of the residents for good parks and recreation offerings.
That said, there certainly are department costs associated with those functions and this year, as the
department has been short-staffed, we've learned where certain events place a significant burden on our
resources, such as for-profit leagues and tournaments at the ball fields who require use of city equipment
and who have enough visitors that several rented portable toilets are required, in addition to frequent
restroom restocking. Moreover, there are some services that the City provides in the parks system that many
other jurisdictions charge for, such a fees for additional picnic tables, fees for additional trash cans for large
events, fees for water use at parks with hills, or other ad hoc requests. Finally, other parks facilities, such as
the tennis courts, are maintained to excellent levels of service thanks to members of the community putting
in hundreds of hours of work per year and if they ever could not continue to do so, the City may be in a
bind wondering how to maintain a similar level of expected services without adopting some fees.
Recognizing that the Council cannot make a decision at the study session, I'm seeking your general
thoughts and input so that we can finalize our proposal and bring it back before you.
THANK YOU!
2
CUPS
Rezones
Annexations
Pre -Plats
Final Plats
Plans
Dev Agreements
Guarantees
Director
17.25
37.25
12.5
41.5
30.5
10.75
9.5
32
Plan Mng
154.75
142
102.5
25.5
22.5
2.5
Dev Sery Mng
287.25
149
463.25
89.5
89
Attorney
Not incorporated
Admin Assist
Not incorporated
Ancillary Costs (building, power,
computers, vehicles, etc)
Not incorporated
# of Type
11
13
7
16
24
17
24
12
Fees Collected
$
3,740.00
$
6,955.00
$ 4,900.00
$ 4,094.00
$ 10,275.00
$ -
$ 1,200.00
0.00
Salary Cost Only
$
6,438.22
$
7,009.68
$ 4,319.68
$ 12,850.42
$ 7,459.88
$ 16,359.07
$ 3,632.10
$ 4,682.76
$203 base fee plus
$258 base fee plus
Current Fee
$
340.00
$
535.00
$ 700.00
$15/lot
$15/lot
$ -
$ 50.00
-
Break Even Fee w/o
benefits
$
585.29
$
539.21
$ 617.10
$ 803.15
$ 310.83
$ 962.30
$ 151.34
$ 390.23
Break Even Fee w/
benefits (-60% of wage)
$
936.47
$
862.73
$ 987.35
$ 1,285.04
$ 497.33
$ 1,539.68
$ 242.14
$ 624.37