Burlingame City Council Set to Raise Fees, Lower Water Bond Payments

The Burlingame City Council is scheduled to vote on revisions to the city’s master fee schedule that will raise a number of fees and also approve refinancing a 2004 water bond to take advantage of lower interest rates that will save the city about $67,000 a year over the next 16 years.

According to a staff report, the Master Fee Schedule is reviewed annually to ensure that the fees charged reflect the actual cost to provide the service. 

Between 2009 and 2011 the fee schedule wasn’t adjusted.  This will be the second year in a row that some fees are being increased.  

The Building Department is seeing a number of fee increases including fees for building permits, inspection fees and plumbing permits.  Most of the fee increases are in the neighborhood of 2 percent.

Another item on Monday night’s agenda will, if passed, allow the city to save about $67,000 a year by refinancing a 2004 bond that paid for capital improvements to the city’s water and waste water systems.

The outstanding bonds are valued at slightly less than $15 million with interest rates that range from 3.4 to 4.5 percent.  The new bonds are expected to have interest rates ranging from .6 to 3.6 percent.

The new bonds will all be paid off by 2029, the same time frame as the bonds the city hopes to retire with this new issue.

The City Council meets in the Council Chambers at Burlingame City
Hall, 501 Primrose Road.

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