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7. B. - Page 1 <br /> RE PO RT <br /> To the Honorable Mayor and City Council <br /> From the Cit Mana er <br /> December 12, 2011 <br /> SUBJECT <br /> Approve the amended fee schedule for fire prevention and rescind resolution no. 11593 <br /> RECOMMENDATION <br /> By resolution, amend the fee schedule for fire prevention and rescind resolution no. <br /> 11593. <br /> BACKGROUND <br /> History of Fire Department Inspection Fees: <br /> June 25, 1990 - Resolution 11321 Establishing and approving fees and charges for <br /> documents and services furnished by the Fire Department was adopted. This resolution <br /> set a fee schedule that allowed the Fire Department to begin charging for the inspections <br /> and re-inspections regularly performed by fire department staff. These fees covered <br /> services for incident/investigation reports, inspection and re-inspection fees, and use <br /> perm it fees. <br /> September 16, 1991 - Resolution 11593 Establishing and approving fees and charges <br /> for documents and services furnished and provided by the Redwood City Fire <br /> Department; Rescinding Resolution 11321 retroactively as of July 1, 1990; providing for <br /> refunds of certain fees and charges and rescinding all other fees and charges imposed <br /> pursuant to resolution No. 11321 upon adoption hereof. <br /> Due to the concern of the business community, who tended to view the inspection fees as <br /> a tax, Resolution 11321 was rescinded. In its place, Resolution 11593 put forth a new fee <br /> schedule for the Fire Department, with inspections listed as "No Charge". <br /> Redwood City is now facing a fiscal challenge similar to that of other California cities. <br /> Fees in many local governments throughout the country have traditionally been set based <br /> on structural valuation or other methods that are difficult to correlate to services provided. <br /> California law requires a rational nexus between fees and the cost of the services these <br /> fees fund. Cities are free to charge less than the cost of a service if they are able to <br /> afford such a subsidy, but they should not charge more. This requires a detailed analysis <br /> of the cost of providing individual fee services. <br /> The Redwood City Fire Department in connection with the City of San Mateo Fire <br /> Department hired MAXIMUS Consulting Services, Inc. to conduct a fire prevention cost of <br /> services study. Nexus, the study conducted by MAXIMUS Consulting Services, Inc. is a <br /> development-fee application used to determine the cost of fee services (See attached <br />