Planning Department Proposes Fee Increases

The City Planning Department recently proposed new fees for its services that would collectively increase fees department-wide by more than 33 percent.

The proposed fee schedule “provides the City with an opportunity to more accurately reflect the cost of planning services,” the department announced in its most recent monthly newsletter. If adopted by the City Council, the proposed fee schedule will reduce the amount of money that goes from the city’s General Fund to the Planning Department’s operating budget down to $6.1 million annually from $14 million. Fees will cover 84 percent of the department’s budget vs. 64 percent currently.

In its report to the City Council, the department said that if the new fees were applied to current case numbers at the department, the department would have received $7.9 million more ($31.3 million theoretically vs. $23.4 million in actual fees received). That’s a 33.7% increase department-wide. Obviously, some fees will increase less than 33%; some will increase more.

The department’s report to the City Council can be found at:

https://clkrep.lacity.org/onlinedocs/2009/09-0969-S3_rpt_PLAN_12-02-2020.pdf

And the proposed fee schedule can be found at:

https://clkrep.lacity.org/onlinedocs/2009/09-0969-S3_misc_1_12-02-2020.pdf

The proposal is currently scheduled to be heard by the council’s Planning and Land Use Management Committee on Feb. 16.