City Council Meeting Date: March 18, 2025
To: Mayor and City Council
City Administrator
From: Lynette Peterson, City Clerk
Title
Adopt Changes to Fees and Charges.
Body
Action Requested:
The Northfield City Council approves the attached resolution adopting changes to fees and charges.
Summary Report:
Annual review of fees and charges is desirable to ensure that the appropriate fees are being charged for City services. In formulating updated fee amounts, each department reviews services that are provided and what the costs for those services are. Costs include staff member time as well as overhead expenses. A resolution adopting changes to fees and charges is included as Attachment 1. The updated 2025 fee schedule is included as Attachment 2. A redlined list of proposed changes is included as Attachment 3. This attachment shows a side-by-side view of current fees and proposed fees. It is recommended that the proposed fees be effective upon adoption. The proposed changes will be incorporated into the comprehensive fee schedule once adopted.
A brief explanation of proposed fee changes is noted below provided as background to the Council:
City Clerk
• Added additional fees related to data requests which had not previously been noted on the fee schedule. A fee for black/white and color copying charges for data requests greater than 100 copies has been added as this fee has not been indicated previously.
Public Works - Street/Parks
• Added fee for Babcock Park Rental - Full Day. The indoor space will require additional cleaning services after events.
• Increased the barricade rental deposit fee. This is a refundable fee, however, should barricades not be returned, the deposit fee will more closely match the cost of replacing barricades.
• Added Temporary Traffic Sign Rental and deposit fee. This is normally used for community events.
• Added Labor/Operator regular time and overtime rate. Staff charges for each employee billed will be calculated using the actual hourly rate plus all payroll taxes and benefit charges.
• Added equipment rental rates. These fees are based on the 2023 FEMA rate schedule which is linked to the item in our fee schedule. These rates can be found at: Schedule of Equipment Rates | FEMA.gov <https://www.fema.gov/assistance/public/tools-resources/schedule-equipment-rates>
• Added miscellaneous small tool refundable deposit fee.
Police
• Deleted fingerprinting service fee. The department no longer provides this service.
• Deleted Impound/Boarding - Cat fee. The department no longer is able to board cats.
• Changed Rabies Vaccination to Non-Vaccinated Dog Boarding/Quarantine and increased the fee.
Community Development
• Increased Zoning Certificate for review of: accessory uses (ADUs, detached garage, shed, gazebo, swimming pool, hot tub, spa, sport court, etc.), change of use/pre-existing use registration, fence or retaining wall, temporary use1 from $75.00 to $150.00 to reflect the amount of staff time spent on review of the application and to be consistent with other applications that require similar review and are also $150.00.
• Increased the Rental License Type 2 fee.
• Added minimum amount plus state surcharge fee for Commercial Building Permit Fees.
• Added minimum and/or updated minimum plus state surcharge fee for Residential Building Permit Fees.
• Added minimum and state surcharge fee for general building permits.
Alternative Options:
The City Council may alternatively:
A. Remove from the consent agenda for separate discussion.
Financial Impacts:
There is not a significant impact to any of the budgets by the proposed fee changes.
Tentative Timelines:
If approved, staff recommends that the fees become effective immediately.
The fee schedule will be coming back again for a review early in the budget process for the 2026-2027 budget process. Tentatively, the review would occur between May and August at worksession for detailed review with fees being adopted in September.