The Los Alamitos City Council voted unanimously at their most recent meeting designed to mitigate the cost-of-living increases to its fees and permit schedule.
The Council voted unanimously to approve an annual increase for permits and fees yet stopped short of the staff recommendation of 7.4 percent.
Each year, the Council is mandated to analyze the cost of city services and pass those costs on to the public who pay for permits and development fees and a host of services authorized by the city.
With the cost-of-living increases nationwide estimated to be near 8 percent, the city staff recommended a hike of 7.4 percent to keep the cost of city services in step with the current economic situation.
However, Councilman Ron Bates, backed by Councilman Mark Chirco, suggested the city not increase the fee and permit schedule the full 7.4 percent.
“I suggest we consider five percent,” said Bates, suggesting that raising the fees to the full 7.4 percent could blunt economic growth.
“I think it [7.4 percent] is too much of a step for us to take right now,” said Bates.
“I agree,” said Chirco, noting that businesses in the city “are already getting hit everywhere.”
City Manager Chet Simmons said the city has completely changed the way it operates in the past two years so a few months to complete a more thorough audit of the process would be in order.
“We can work on our internal calculations and rework our fee schedule,” said Simmons. As necessary, the fee schedule can be adjusted once the new analysis is complete.
Craig Koehler, Director of Finance, asked the council to consider authorizing a qualified outside contractor to assist the city in completing the financial analysis.
The Council unanimously approved a motion by Bates and seconded by Chirco that included the five percent increase and the contractor for the analysis.
The city manager said he would have the revised permit and fee schedule ready for the Council to review at the next meeting.
In other action, the Council:
- Declared April as DMV Donate Life Month. Info at livingdonationscalifornia.org.
- Welcomed Janet Gallagher to the city’s Parks and Recreation Commission.
- Approved spending $5,000 on self-locking doors to save staff time at remote facilities.
- Gave Acting City Manager and Development Services Manager Ron Noda the go ahead to proceed with a $92,000 project to replace all 122 catch basins in the city.