Sandpoint reexamines city fees
A mechanical failure caused partially treated water to be distributed by the Sand Creek water treatment plant in mid-July.
SANDPOINT — Numbers and spreadsheets stole the show at Wednesday night’s city council workshop, where City Administrator Jennifer Stapleton and Public Works Director Amanda Wilson gave detailed presentations on proposed fee changes.
No public comment was accepted at the meeting and no final decisions were made in regards to city fees. Community members will have the option to speak on this matter at the Sept. 2 public hearing regarding the proposed fees and existing fees that increase more than five percent.
Stapleton, who led the Aug. 12 discussion, began by outlining the numerous kinds of new fees under review. The first new fee is an expedited process fee.
“This is in the area of building and planning permits,” she said. “If someone wants expedited processing, this is typical with what other cities are doing to get a faster turn around if possible, with the building and planning permit.”
Another fee, the community garden plot fee, is existing and will be increased from $20 to $30 annual to $25 to $35. And a third fee, Stapleton said, will increase tourist homes, short-term rental fees, which will cover the direct costs associated such as software for management tracking and reporting on the short-term rentals.
Other fee changes mentioned included an increase in ticket fees at War Memorial Field and a road naming fee.
“Currently our fees are $1 for LPOSD events at the field and they have been $1.25 for Festival events at the field,” Stapleton said. “We are proposing a fee that’s consistent for any event that is at the field where they would charge an entry fee that is $2 per person entry for the field.”
Stapleton said this fee increase would go into capital funds, specifically for future capital improvements on War Memorial Field such as stadium or field replacements.
“This will assist us with the difference in the revenue to ensure that we are not at a point 10 to 15 years down the road where we have deferred maintenance on the field and no way to replace it,” she said.
The road naming fee is a Bonner County fee, where the city of Sandpoint has a negotiation with the county to partner and share the revenue generated by the fee.
The second half of Wednesday’s presentation is where Wilson walked council members through a restructure of development and service fees. Wilson said this has been a longstanding commitment made by city staff last year to propose an overall fee structure for the 2021 Fiscal Year.
When Wison came onboard over two years ago, there were elements she found particularly confusing with infrastructure development service fees. In time, she noted that customers were confused as well, which led her to overhaul many of the fees associated with service work.
“Not with the intention of increasing them, that wasn’t the focus here,” she said. “It really is about restructuring them to improve clarity and to improve equity where it made sense.”
One example given by Wilson is to propose a 40 percent reduction in fees on residential repeat or subsequent lot plan checks. In other words, if a subdivision has 50 lots with only five home types being proposed, a review plan check could eliminate the need for another 45 individual checks and reduce the fee for everyone in the subdivision.
Wilson listed additional fees as well such as the proposed $480 watershed activity use fee and a sewer inspection fee which has historically been free-of-charge.
More information on city fees can be found in Sandpoint’s online budget book, which is linked to the city’s main website.
Aly De Angelus can be reached by email at adeangelus@bonnercountydailybee.com and follow her on Twitter @AlyDailyBee.