Agda Pkt 2026.07.07 Special Council Meeting

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REDWOOD CITY 9212 Economic & Planning Systems, Inc. 29 Fiscal Implications of Proposed Ordinance Table 14. One Time Start Up Cost Estimate Program Administration Fee The proposed Ordinance includes a two-tier placeholder fee structure of $120 per fully covered unit and $84 per partially covered unit until the City Council adopts a different fee. However, both placeholder fees are substantially below the level needed to recover the estimated midpoint annual program cost of $6,784,877. For purposes of estimating an illustrative cost-recovery fee, this analysis applies the same general two-tier framework included in the proposed Ordinance, but recalculates the fee levels needed to recover estimated program costs. Many jurisdictions use tiered fee structures to reflect differences in program administration costs for various categories of rental housing. The tiered fee structure recognizes that units subject to rent stabilization generally require more intensive program administration than units that are only registered in the rent registry or otherwise exempt from rent control. Rent-stabilized units require ongoing administration of rent caps, base rent tracking, rent increase compliance, landlord fair-return petitions, tenant petitions, hearings, noticing, enforcement, and legal support. By comparison, partially exempt units may still require registration, outreach, and compliance tracking, including staff review, counseling services for landlords and tenants, and tracking of termination and eviction notices, but they generally do not generate the same level of rent stabilization workload. While tiered fee structures are common, there is significant variation in how cities define fee categories, which units fall into each category, and which program costs are included in the annual fee. For example, some cities recover petition- related costs through the annual program fee, while others charge separate fees for certain petition or hearing processes. To develop an illustrative cost recovery estimate for Redwood City, this analysis reviewed fee structures in several Bay Area jurisdictions and found that the ratio between the higher and lower fee tiers averaged approximately 1.6 to 1 (i.e., highest fee tier averaged 1.6 times more than lowest tier). Appendix A Table A-4 provides a breakdown of the cities evaluated. Minimum Average Maximum One-time Costs Tenant Improvements [1]$165 per sq. ft.$218,755 $377,486 $586,904 Equipment [2]$100,000 per office $100,000 $100,000 $100,000 Total One-Time Costs $318,755 $477,486 $686,904 [1] Tenant improvement costs based on Cushman and Wakefield Office Tenant Improvement Cost Guide [2] Equipment cost based on Burbank rent control 9212 report Cost Assumption Level of Enforcement 8.A. - Page 157 of 168 167