The City of Oakland's Planning & Building Department (PBD) has proposed to increase certain fees by 3% to fully recover the cost of services provided. PBD's proposed fees will become effective immediately after approval by the Oakland City Council on January 18, 2022.
Background
Permit and application fees are required to cover the daily operations of PBD, and allow for a reserve fund to be established, designed to supplement the department's budget during a downturn in the economy. These permit and application fees can only be used to support PBD expenses such as, but not limited to, staff wages, computer applications, supplies, fuel, and training expenses.
On December 21, 2021, the Oakland City Council considered updates to the City's Master Fee Schedule (MFS). The MFS documents the fees and charges for all City services. The cost of services provided by the City of Oakland is often recovered by charging fees to users as permitted under State law. The process for adopting a new MFS requires two hearings (also referred to as "readings") by the City Council. The Oakland City Council has scheduled a second reading and final passage of this item for January 18, 2022. The Council report and related items may be found here.
On July 6, 2021, the City Council adopted Ordinance No. 13688 C.M.S. amending the salary schedule to provide a 3% cost of living adjustment (COLA) increase to City employees, which went into effect July 2021. Passage of the COLA created a need to update the City's MFS to ensure costs incurred in providing services are fully recovered. As a result of these changes to wages and fringe benefit rates in FY 2021-22, City departments were requested to increase fees by 3% to ensure cost recovery.