City Council Meeting Date: January 18, 2022
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. A list of proposed changes is included as attachment 2. Fees that are changed or being removed are listed in red or red strikethrough. 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. The fee schedule will also be reformatted for easier use by the public.
A brief explanation of proposed fee changes is noted below:
Library
* Removing faxing service and genealogy searches.
o Improvements to technology have made charging for these services unnecessary, creating barriers to access to those who can least afford it. Basic genealogy research is part of a reference librarian's professional toolkit. In the past, genealogy research was more specialized, requiring more labor than it does now.
o Faxing once required a more expensive set up; it is now included with our photocopier service. Faxing isn't used frequently but when it is, it is an urgent and essential service. Fees present an unnecessary burden in this case.
* Removing fees for overdue library items to include Nooks, books on CD and tape, magazines, videos and DVDs and games/software.
o Fines create a barrier to access...
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