Diamond Bar's Service Fees Go Up For Third, Final Time

Though not very popular in 2010 when first proposed, Diamond Bar’s City Council members quietly approved the final phase of service fee increases this week, making it a little more expensive to do business in the city.

The changes come after more than a decade without fee increases, city staff said. The city was so behind, they were subsidizing nearly half the cost of the services, according to city staffers.

The council voted unanimously to approve the final increase, which put a three-year increase -- starting in 2010 -- at nearly 30 percent higher than the fee schedule from 1998, the last time the city had adjusted its fees. It was necessary, said Ryan McLean, Assistant to the City Manager.

For example, some projects, primarily through the Community Development and Public Works/Engineering departments, require a deposit. That deposit is based on the hourly rates of overall time spent by staff or consultants who work on a project.

Fees had been based on 1998 staffing levels, budget figures and project volumes, setting the hourly rate at $98, McLean wrote.

“If today’s city expenditures and staffing levels were applied to the 1998 formula, the standard Staff Hourly Rate would be $180.20, an increase of 112 percent,” according to a staff report.

No one was spoke during the public hearing held during the council's discussion of the issue May 1.

But when it was first proposed, some residents expressed concern. Shortly after the council approved the proposal, local Allen Wilson blogged that he thought the council proposal was “misguided in this unstable economy with a reminder that such user fees are taxes which comes out of someone's pocket one way or the other.”

The new fee rates are scheduled to go into effect on July 1. The staff report with the complete list of all the new fees is included with this article.