HomeMy WebLinkAbout20110404 - VIII-C-4
City Council Memorandum To: Mayor Hicks & City Councilmembers From: Melanie Mesko Lee, Assistant City Administrator Date: March 30, 2011 Item: Proposed Fee Adjustments Council Action
Requested: Approve the first reading and order a public hearing/second hearing for April 18, 2011 to consider some fee adjustments to the City's fee ordinance. Background Information:
Periodically, City staff reviews the comprehensive fee ordinance. Attached are fee adjustments which have been included as part of the 2011 budget and/or are being recommended as a result
of proposed ordinance amendments . When reviewing, staff looks at incurred costs (external and staff) for providing the service. For the new programs for false alarm registration and
vacant property registration, background on the proposed fees can be found in the staff memos with the corresponding proposed ordinance amendment. For the rental housing fees, please
see attached information from Building Official Tom Bakken explaining the justification for the proposed increases, as well as some of the outreach the Department of Building Safety
has done on this matter. Financial Impact: It is expected that there will be increased revenue with each of the proposed fee adjustments. Advisory Commission Discussion: N/A Council
Committee Discussion: Members of the Administrative Committee discussed this at their meetings on January 27, 2011; February 22, 2011 and March 23, 2011. Attachments: Proposed fee schedule
Information from Building Official Tom Bakken
ORDINANCE NO. _________ AN ORDINANCE OF THE CITY OF HASTINGS, MINNESOTA AMENDING Section III, CHAPTER 34, SECTION 34.03 OF THE HASTINGS CITY CODE PERTAINING TO: FEES BE IT ORDAINED by
the City Council of the City of Hastings as follows: Chapter 34, Section 34.03, Fee Schedule, of the Hastings City Code are hereby modified as follows: Rental Housing License Single
unit $25.00 $50/two years Duplex $50.00 $75/two years Duplex owner occupied $25.00 $50/two years Triplex $59.00 $95/two years Fourplex $62.00 $115/two years Over 4 units $50.00 $75/building
plus $3.00 $10/unit False Alarm Registration Initial Alarm Permit Issuance/Renewal $0.00 Alarm Permit Renewal $0.00 Late Fee—Alarm Permit (initial & renewal) $25.00 False Alarm Response
Fees (for false alarms in same calendar year) 1st & 2nd False Alarm No Charge 3rd False Alarm $100.00 4th False Alarm $150.00 5th & subsequent False Alarm $250.00/each Vacant Building
Registration Fees Single Family, Townhome Units, Condo Units, Duplex & Triplex Living Vacant Buildings Vacant less than one year $400 Vacant more than one year $200 each subsequent year
Vacant Buildings with 4+ living Units and Commercial Buildings
Vacant less than one year $500 Vacant more than one year $250 each subsequent year LICENSE FEE Commercial building windows $100.00 $100 base fee or 1.25% x valuation $5.00 .0005 x value
ALL OTHER SECTIONS SHALL REMAIN UNCHANGED Council member _____________________ moved a second to this Ordinance, and upon being put to a vote it was unanimously adopted by all Council
members present. Adopted by the Hastings City Council on this _____ day of __________, 2011, by the following vote: Ayes Nays: Absent: CITY OF HASTINGS Paul J. Hicks, Mayor ATTEST: Melanie
Mesko Lee, City Clerk I hereby certify that the above is a true and correct copy of the Ordinance presented to and adopted by the City of Hastings, County of Dakota, Minnesota, on the
_____ day of ______, 2009, as disclosed by the records of the City of Hastings on file and of record in the office. Melanie Mesko Lee, City Clerk/Assistant City Administrator
Memo To: Mayor Hicks and City Council From: Tom Bakken, Building Official Date: March 25, 2011 Subject: Rental Housing License Fee Increases REQUEST The City Council is asked to approve
the fee increases proposed for the bi-annual Rental Housing Licenses. Rental Property License Review The Building Safety Department recently sent out 16 letters to respected landlords
that own rental properties in Hastings to notify them of the proposed fee increases and solicit their comments. We offered the landlords two different times to meet in person for a group
discussion, to call or email with ideas. We received one email, one letter, and a couple of calls of which we listened and replied to. The common point that we heard was they wanted
to know what the justification is for raising the fee during a slow economy and we explained the amount of time typically involved with administration and inspections. They seemed to
understand cost involved and offered some other ideas with onsite inspection scheduling that we will will consider. Current License Fees: Single Unit $25.00 every 2 years due on anniversary
date of license Duplex $50.00 every 2 years due on anniversary date of license Owner occupied Duplex -same as single unit. Triplex $59.00 every 2 years due on anniversary date of license
Fourplex $62.00 every 2 years due on anniversary date of license Over 4 units $50.00 per building plus $3.00 per unit every 2 years Background: Current fees have been in existence since
1999. No increases since. Building department proposed an increase on August 17th and held a public hearing on September 8th. Many
License holders came out against such proposal. The reasons they were against the proposal is summarized as follows: • Increase in fees of over 400% • Disparity in fees for a single
unit in comparison to the bigger units based upon a per unit breakdown. • The cities that were compared to Hastings were not of the same geographical similarities as Hastings. The City
council referred this back to staff to review and to revise. Comparable Cities: See the attached excel spread sheet for other city rental housing program licensing fees in Dakota County
and other metropolitan areas. The past proposed rate increase: The building department had proposed to double the rates and have the license due each year, thus the 400% increase concern
from the license holders. Fee Analysis: The Building Department along with the Finance department would like see these fees be due on one day. This would increase the efficiency of billing
for these license fees. I propose to have the fees due on July 1st for the two years the license is valid. The inspection could then take place on or near the anniversary date of the
license thus allowing time for the inspector to get the inspection completed. Typically an inspection on a single residential last 45 minutes, each unit added after adds 15 minutes to
the inspection. The goal of the fees is to cover the initial inspection, administration time and overhead. Administration covers all aspects of the paperwork, billing, and one follow-up
inspection, documentation, and issuing of license. There is still some disparity when comparing on a per unit basis. Efficiency of having more then one unit in an area and efficiency
in inspecting common areas drives down the cost of an inspection. I propose the fees to cover the average cost incurred for the inspection and thus the following fee structure is proposed.
The base fee of $50.00 is to cover the cost of the average single unit inspection cost. Every unit after that is charged a cheaper single unit fee. An owner occupied unit is not charged.
Single/owner occupied du-plex $50.00 every two years Duplex/owner occupied tri-plex $75.00 every two years ($50.00 plus $25.00 for the second unit.) Triplex /owner occupied four-plex
$ 95.00 every two years Four-plex $ 115.00 every two years A re-inspection fee will result after the failed annual inspection plus a failed free follow up inspection. The rate of a re-inspection
fee will be another base fee of $50. Re-inspection fees are applicable for the following reasons: The manager/owner of the rental fails to appear or fails to notify the code enforcement
inspector of a cancellation 1 working day in advance. The inspector will wait 15 minutes before it is considered a failure to appear. The inspector cannot get access to all apartments
and areas of the structure. Should the corrections not be completed by the follow up inspection a re-inspection will need to occur and thus the base fee will be imposed. If the owner/operator
does not take out the appropriate permits for work ordered and an investigation by by the Department of Building Safety must occur. If Dakota County Courts requires an inspection to
confirm work completed. The Larger units will have a fee structure of: $75.00 per building plus $10.00 per unit Summary of Proposed Changes: Type Current Fee Proposed Fee $ Increase
% Increase Breakdown by Unit Single or owner occupied duplex 25.00 50.00 25.00 100% 50.00 Duplex 50.00 75.00 25.00 50% 37.50 Triplex 59.00 95.00 36.00 61% 31.66 Fourplex 62.00 115.00
53.00 85% 28.75 Larger Units 50. plus 3. per unit 75.00 per 10 per unit 8 Unit 74.00 155.00 81.00 109.5% 19.38 12 Unit 86.00 195.00 109.00 126.7% 16.25 20 Unit 110.00 275.00 165.00 150%
13.75 36 Unit 158.00 435.00 277.00 175% 12.08
RENTAL FEES CITY POP TERM EXPIRED SF CONDO DUPLEX TRIPLEX FOUR PLEX FIVE OR MORE INSPECTED Brooklyn Center 29,810 900 400 200 200/18 200/18 200/18 Unit Y /Varies by Type Cottage Grove
34,502 Annual 31-Dec 50 100 60/5 60/5 60/5 Bi-annual Oakdale 27,344 Annual 31-Dec 105 105 160 195 200 250/9 Unit Once/Calendar yr Rosemount 21,521 2 Year 3/1-2/30 25 per Bi-annual Roseville
34,178 Annual 7/1-6/30 25 per N/A South St. Paul 20,180 Annual Jan 1-Dec 31 25 per 1 out of 4 yrs. White Bear Lake 24,734 2 Year Date issued 50 57 50/7 50/7 50/7 Unit Bi-annual Andover
31,298 2 Year Date issued 50 only Occasionally Champlin 23,934 Annual Feb/April 75 100 125 150 80/10 Unit Occasionally Chanhassen 23,629 2 Year Date issued 50 per Bi-annual Crystal 22,014
Annual 12 months 150 200/150 250/200 300/250 300/8 Unit Elk River 23,633 Annual 10 10 10 10 45/15 Annual Faribault 23,312 2 Year Jan-Dec 73/building 28, 26, 24 unit Bi-annual Fridley
26,347 4 Yr cycle 75 75 125 185 245 245 /10 Unit Varies Golden Valley 20,312 Annual Varies 100 per 3 years Ramsey 23,272 2 Year Date issued yes Red Wing 16,294 7 Year Date issued 75/25(U)
Winona 27, 474 5 years Date issued 64/64 192 64/64/21 64/64/21 every 5 years Shoreview 58,882 Annual Jan-Dec 75 100/10 100/10 100/10 SF every 2 yrs New Hope 20,718 Annual Varies 75 150
150/20 150/20 SF(Bi) Multi (3) Richfield 33,859 Annual Jan-Dec 140 225 140/14 140/14 140/14 Annual Brooklyn Park 75,306 Annual 150 150 180/20 180/20 180/20 Woodbury 59,338 Annual Dec.
31st 18/Unit 18/Unit 18/Unit 18/Unit Bi-annual