HomeMy WebLinkAboutFCS-16-166 - 2017 User Fee Review
REPORT TO: Finance and Corporate Services Committee
DATE OF MEETING: November 7, 2016
SUBMITTED BY: Ryan Hagey, Director of Financial Planning
519-741-2200 Ext 7353
PREPARED BY: Debra Fagerdahl, Manager of Financial Planning
519-741-2200 Ext 7114
WARD(S) INVOLVED: All
DATE OF REPORT: October 25, 2016
REPORT NO.: FCS-16-166
SUBJECT: 2017 User Fees
________________________________________________________________
RECOMMENDATION:
THAT the proposed fees and charges contained in the 2017 User Fe
to Financial Services Department Report FCS-16-166 be approved;
THAT Legal Services staff be directed to prepare the necessary b
City of Kitchener Municipal Code Chapters for fees and charges p
planning applications, building permits and Committee of Adjustm
BACKGROUND:
A comprehensive review of fees and charges forms part of the ann
normally approves a new fee schedule each fall to provide time t
and by-law amendments before fees are increased effective the be
Fees and charges are used by municipalities as an alternative to
and services through property taxes. Fees and charges are often
services where customers have a choice whether or not to use the
use of fees and charges tends to be favoured over property taxes
REPORT:
A comprehensive listing of proposed fees and charges is attached
charges with the exception of utility rates.
When setting individual rates, departments consider a range of f
legislation, rates of other municipalities and market conditions
*** This information is available in accessible formats upon req
Please call 519-741-2345 or TTY 1-866-969-9994 for assistance.
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provided with a guideline to increase fees and charges by approx
rate of inflation. In general, most fees are increasing by this
to cover inflationary impacts would shift program costs to the p
property tax increases above the rate of inflation.
Strategic Fee Changes
The following fees and charges are being adjusted a rate higher
guideline of 2%.
Aquatic Programs (fees 79 - 231 on the detailed fee schedule)
Some fees have not been increased in order to remain comparable
municipalities. New fees include a family book of five tickets as
(fee 90)
well as a new program for school boards on swimming survival ski
(fee 196).
Community Programs & Services (fees 232 - 444 on the detailed fe
Fees for the Resource Centre Clerks are higher than the 2% increase to bring
(fees 239 240)
the fees in line with the actual wage cost to be recovered. Lichave been held
flat or reduced by up to 20% to be comparable to industry pricin
has been introduced. This card entitles the patron to attend any
fees 398
- 401).
Cemeteries (fees 445 - 659 on the detailed fee schedule)
Some of the Cemetery fees differ from the 2% guideline in order
range with other municipal cemeteries. Many of the fees are legi
recovery and therefore will not always align with the target inc
introduced for a new product and three new fees are being offered at the Dedication
(fee 472),
Center for Wedding services.
(fees 636 - 638)
Golf Fees (fees 660 - 706 on the detailed fee schedule)
Many of the golf fees have been held flat or increased by less t
comparable with competitors in the industry. One new cart member
.
(fee 696)
KMAC (fees 707 - 758 on the detailed fee schedule)
The fee for shinny and admissions have been aligned to be
(fee 732)(fees 733 - 737)
comparable with industry rates.
Sport Development (fees 759 - 767 on the detailed fee schedule)
Three Budd Indoor fees have not been increased to remain comparable with
(fee 765 767)
other municipalities.
Fire Fees (fees 768 848 on the detailed fee schedule)
Alarm Monitoring Residential (fees 812 and 813)
A 1% increase is recommended for residential alarm monitoring fe
justification for further increases at this time. The program is
and costs are being covered at the recommended rates. The manda
in highest risk fire categories, which are the single family hom
significantly less in homes that are monitored compared with hom
community benefit by keeping fee increases to a minimum.
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Alarm Monitoring Commercial (fees 816 - 822)
The fee for Commercial alarm monitoring is increasing by 2.5% to
cost recovery.
Response to Provincial Highways/Truck (fees 827 and 828)
These fees have increased to match the legislated amounts charge
rates which were increased effective Nov 2015 equates to a 9.76%
Building (fees 968 - 1067 on the detailed fee schedule)
The Building Enterprise is proposing a 5% reduction to most of t
budget. Favourable results over the last few years have allowed
reserve fund to reach its target level. Per the Council-approve
building permit fees is required when the target is reached.
Building is adding one
Interior finishing of warehouse or factories area only(fee 995)
new fee under the Group F Industrial category. This new fee is
consistency on previously issued shell projects.
Legislated Services (fees 1123 - 1143 on the detailed fee schedu
It is proposed that this fee be increased by 12.5% to
Certificate of Official (fee 1131) -
$225 to maintain parity with neighbouring municipalities.
It is proposed that this fee not be increased in order to
Marriage License (fee 1140) -
maintain parity with neighbouring municipalities. Increasing th
may result in a decline in the number of licenses sold and a cor
the City.
It is proposed that the 2017 Lottery Licence fee
Lottery/Bingo License Fee (fee 1141) -
remain stable with no increase. Lottery licensing fees are mand
Gaming Commission of Ontario. The licence fees are charged to c
organizations who wish to hold lottery events in the City. Char
organizations have experienced significant drops in lottery even
are raising much needed funds for many community programs, it is
licence fees.
It is proposed that this fee not be increased in order to
Death Registration (fee 1142)
-
maintain parity with neighbouring municipalities. Increasing th
may result in a substantial decline in the number of registratio
corresponding revenue loss to the City.
Revenue Fees (fees 1255 - 1271 on the detailed fee schedule)
Most Revenue fees have not been increased in order to maintain p
municipalities.
Engineering (fees 1369 - 1496 on the detailed fee schedule)
Most of the Engineering fees differ from the 2% guideline as the
the dollar or to the nearest five dollars for ease of payment.
reasons are:
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it is proposed that the
Driveway Ramp Widening Permit - Inspection Refund (fee 1396)
refund be reduced to $200, for ease of refund payment.
this fee has increased from 10% of the application fee to
Administration Fee (fee 1402)
11%, in order to allow Engineering to recover more of the admini
This fee has not been changed since 2014.
Parking (fees 1497 - 1519 on the detailed fee schedule)
As presented during the 2016 budget, parking rates are recommend
2017. The rationale for this change is fourfold;
1) the Citys parking rates are already the highest in the marke
2) increasing rates further will only reduce market share as com
remained flat;
3) increasing rates may negatively impact future development in
4) lower demand for new supply of parking.
Re-evaluating the parking supply/demand model and the pricing fo
independent parking study in the fall of 2016 and additionally w
LRT and as part of the 2018 and 2019 budget.
Utilities (fees 1520 - 1597 on the detailed fee schedule)
Market research has shown that customers prefer to
Water Heater Rentals (fees 1524 - 1558) -
receive a larger increase every few years as opposed to small an
increased in 2015, therefore no increases to rental water heater
Budget. Profitability in the program remains strong.
Gas Services (fees 1576 1597)
this is a new fee to recover costs for
Broken, buried valve box repair (fee 1594)
·
repairing gas valve boxes that have been damaged or buried by co
repair costs are approximately $2,000.
Recover costs associated with excavating to install gas
Frost charges (fee 1595)
·
service installation in the winter. This charge is applicable w
requiring additional resources to install the service to homes.
Recover costs associated with excavation charges to
Excavation charges (fee 1596)
·
install new gas services for both new builds and existing homes
There has been a significant increase in request for
Multi Meter manifold (fee 1597) -
·
multi meter manifolds to be built in place of existing single ga
multiple bills). However, the net gas volume used by the occupa
not increased. As a result, there is no way to recover the cost
required to retrofit and maintain these gas meters, so a per met
established to offset these costs.
FOLLOW UP FROM AUDIT COMMITTEE
At the September 26, 2016 Audit Committee meeting staff was dire
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1. Minor variances
2. Engineering fees
Each of these is discussed below.
This fee is set to recover costs for
Legislated Services Minor variance (fee 1129)
administering the Committee of Adjustment process as follows: a
salaries for the involvement of a Committee Administrator and Ad
notices to affected residents, committee member stipends, and Pl
costs. Staff have applied the guideline increase to this fee as
is appropriate as Kitcheners fee is on par with neighbouring mu
municipalities is $1,239) and, in fact, is below those of Waterl
($1,758).
As was noted at the Audit Committee, proposed
Engineering Fees (fees 1369 1519)
fees charged by Engineering, Building, and Planning for 2017 had
reviewed with the local Homebuilders' Association. A detailed r
Engineering fees compared to other municipalities will be conduc
fees.
ALIGNMENT WITH CITY OF KITCHENER STRATEGIC PLAN:
The recommendation of this report supports the achievemen
through the delivery of core service.
FINANCIAL IMPLICATIONS:
The proposed 2017 tax supported budget includes a 2% increase to
were to increase by an additional 1% (i.e. 3% total), the additi
approximately $100,000 (or 0.1% on the property tax levy). Not
an additional 1% as some fees are sensitive to factors like cost
other municipalities, and market conditions.
COMMUNITY ENGAGEMENT:
INFORM and CONSULT
Public notice of this meeting of the Finance and Corporate Servi
in the Record on October 15, 2016 and the report has been listed
addition, the finalized listing will be posted on the Citys web
Council.
Planning, Engineering and Building fees were reviewed with devel
at a Waterloo Region Homebuilders Liaison meeting on Friday Sept
ACKNOWLEDGED BY:
Dan Chapman, Deputy CAO (Finance and Corporate Services)
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