Mon, Jul 06, 2009
Gianna Rivera, 6, sees the world from a different perspective during an after-school program at Anamax Park. Fees for the monthly after-school program are among those that would be affected by the proposed package of increases, going from $100 to $125.
Dean Knuth / Arizona Daily Star
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Arizona Daily Star
Tucson, Arizona | Published: 04.03.2008
Note to Sahuarita entrepreneurs: To hold down expenses, you may want to pick up that business license now, before it doubles in cost.
Innkeepers: Ditto, before the cost of a liquor license jumps by 250 percent.
And anyone planning a big get-together at any of the town's parks may want to get that permit soon, before a series of new user fees and fee increases goes before the Town Council.
Sahuarita town staffers will unveil the proposed user-fee hikes today in an open-house-style meeting at Town Hall.
Town officials encourage all to stop by and find out about the proposals, which will go before the Town Council in May, said Larry Dobrosky, assistant town manager.
"That's why we're having the open house — to get people to ask questions. Give us feedback. Make sure we're on target," he said.
The package of new fees, increased fees and restructured fees was compiled as part of a routine review, Dobrosky said.
The fee adjustments are intended to help the town recoup more of the real cost of providing services, and to bring them closer to what is charged by other towns and cities in Pima County and statewide, he said.
John Neunuebel, director of the town's Planning and Zoning department, said many of the fees charged by his department are based largely on what Oro Valley and Marana charge, as well as other "similar-sized towns statewide, and towns that have experienced rapid growth, like Sahuarita."
"It's been a number of years, five or six years, since we've changed Planning and Zoning fees at all," Neunuebel said.
Revenue drop isn't the cause
Dobrosky said the fee adjustments were not proposed in response to a decline in revenue generated by residential development. A housing boom in recent years generated tens of millions of dollars for Sahuarita, but revenue has fallen over the past year due to a cooling housing market, credit crunch and overall economic slowdown.
"The driving force behind these adjustments isn't the economy," Dobrosky said. "We're just assuring that we're recovering the cost of providing services."
A.C. Marriotti, the town's finance director, added, "Regardless of the economy, it is just good practice to periodically evaluate your fee structure and to adjust them accordingly."
Marriotti said the fee hikes also will help the town comply with a policy that encourages diversifying sources of revenue — relying less on sources that, for example, rely on continued rapid growth.
Neunuebel said the fee hikes also would help the town move closer to the goal of "making development pay for itself."
"The rallying cry has long been that new development needs to pay its own way," he said. The new fees "definitely" will help accomplish that, he said.
Big hikes aimed at builders
The hefty fee hikes are proposed for services provided to builders and developers, with lesser increases for more routine services that would affect the general public.
Although the proposals reduce the base fees for some development-related services, many more would increase.
For example, the base fee to rezone up to five acres would rise from $600 to $1,800 to rezone for several commercial uses, and from $1,000 to $2,800 for more than five acres.
Since it was founded in 1994, Sahuarita has not charged developers who want to amend their general plans — the overall development plan. The town now proposes to charge $2,600 plus $40 per acre.
Alex Jácome, a Sahuarita resident and the Southern Arizona Home Builders Association's government liaison, declined to comment on the proposals Friday because he had not had time to review the hikes.
Jácome, also a member of the town's Economic Development Commission, said in August that his organization — which represents Tucson-area homebuilders and other development-related businesses — supported increases in the town's sewer-user and sewer-connection fees. But he urged town officials to phase in the fee hikes, to limit their impact on an already sluggish housing market.
The fee hikes also would affect many common services provided to the general public.
Proposed increases for services provided through the Town Clerk's Office include:
● Annual business license fees, which would go from $25 to $50.
● Liquor license, from $50 to $250.
● Recording documents, previously free, would cost $7 for up to five pages, plus 50 cents per additional page.
Parks and Recreation fees that would go up include:
● The monthly after-school program, which would go from $100 to $125.
● Renting the Sahuarita Lake Park amphitheater previously was negotiated at the discretion of the Parks and Recreation director; now it will cost $15 a day for up to 50 people, $30 for 50-199 people and $350 for 200 or more.
● Special-event permits, which would cost $100 or $150, depending on the size of the crowd.
Police and municipal court fees also would increase for such routine services as fingerprinting and providing photos, video and audio on cases.
And hiring an off-duty officer would cost $35 an hour — for a minimum three hours.
● Contact reporter Tim Ellis at 807-8414 or tellis@azstarnet.com.
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