| | Published July 31st, 2013
| City Decreases Some Fees, Raises Others
| | By Laurie Snyder | | |
If you wreck your car in Orinda, it's going to cost you less to process the related paperwork. But if you're planning or engineering anything - or hope to have those wedding pictures taken at the Community Park gazebo - it will cost you more. Fees related to these and other issues were discussed and adjusted by city leaders at a public hearing held as part of the July 16 Orinda City Council meeting.
A new "Preparation of Minutes" fee will now be charged in addition to the current $535 tab collected for Administrative Review and other appeals. Development Impact Fees are also in flux. While no adjustments to the Transient Occupancy Rate of 8.5 percent are expected, the Habitable Additions fee has been eliminated, and the remaining Park Dedication Fees will increase as required by the Municipal Code.
In addition, because a survey recently conducted by the Parks and Recreation Department has shown that Orinda's current fee structure places it only at the mid-point of fees charged by the comparable cities of Danville, Lafayette, Moraga, and Walnut Creek, new fees will be added for some services which were previously provided free of charge. Existing fees will also rise by 2 percent - plus rounding up to the nearest whole dollar. The one bit of good news is that non-residents will still bear the brunt of the cost of doing business. Fees for facility rentals and participation in recreation programs will climb by 5 percent for out-of-towners.
The adjustments are expected to offset cost increases faced by the city through the $16,500 which will be brought into the city's General Fund.
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Lamorinda Weekly, Moraga CA