The Riverside village board has approved increases to six kinds of fees across village departments that will go into effect on New Year’s Day.
At the board’s Nov. 21 meeting, Finance Director Yvette Zavala asked the board to approve the raises to fees related to zoning variance requests, certificates of occupancy and compliance, temporary right-of-way permits, public safety staffing at special events, false alarms for public safety and turning on water after business hours. Trustees are expected to pass an ordinance formalizing the changes at an upcoming meeting.
Most of the increases are less than $100, but the deposits for zoning variances will go up by $1,500 at minimum depending on the nature of the variance. All of the increases are intended to align the fees with the costs each request incurs on Riverside and those found in nearby municipalities, Zavala said.
“These are all fees that the vast majority of residents will never see,” said Village President Douglas Pollock at the meeting. “It’s only when you come to the village and ask for a [zoning] variation or if you have a fire alarm that goes off. It’s costing the village money, and either the taxpayers are paying for it through their property taxes, or the person asking for the specific service is paying for it. The philosophy of the village has always been that, if you’re asking for something unique like this, to the best of our ability, you should be the one paying for it, not your neighbors. We’re updating those fees to actually cover real costs.”
Zoning requests
Across the board, individuals seeking zoning variances had to pay $1,000 deposits as of this year. Next year, those deposits will range in cost from $2,500 to $5,000 depending on the kind of variation.
Requests for residential variations, text amendments to the zoning code and subdivisions — that is, splitting a parcel of land into multiple parcels — will require a $2,500 deposit. The same deposit is necessary to appeal the village’s decision on a zoning request.
Anyone requesting a special use on a property outside of those regularly permitted in the property’s district will have to pay $3,000 upfront.
Requests for variations to a commercial property will require a deposit of $5,000.
“The village finds that, more often than not, staff is required to bill applicants for additional incurred costs for zoning requests, no matter whether there is a successful outcome,” Zavala said. “Residential variation requests [require] a $1,000 deposit, and we’re seeing staff is having to bill another additional $1,000 on top of that, which comes like a sticker shock to the resident requesting this … With these increases, we are anticipating the resident will receive a refund of whatever’s left of the deposit after expenses are paid instead of receiving an additional bill.”
Trustee Cristin Evans asked why staff were pursuing such a drastic increase to the deposits.
“There used to be a fee plus a deposit. We no longer do the fee; it’s just the deposit, and then we track staff time, legal cost, mailing, publication costs, and we draw down on those balances,” Village Manager Jessica Frances said in response. “The costs haven’t necessarily changed. We’ve just been balance billing, and there is a frustration among residents [and] business owners that are going through this process, even though we’re completely transparent when they start the process that this is a deposit, and once it is utilized, [they]’ll be billed for any additional resources.”
Pollock noted that the requests will not ultimately cost more next year than this year.
“Just to be clear, this particular item is not a fee increase,” he said. “People will still be paying the same; we’ll just be getting the money upfront rather than billing them after the fact.”
Other fee increases
After zoning in on the variance request deposits, the village board quickly approved the other increases to fees Zavala said staff recommended.
The fees to request public safety personnel at a special event in Riverside are increasing from $85 per hour to $97 per hour for police staff and from $25 per hour to $79 per hour for fire department staff.
“When special events are held throughout the village, the party or organization hosting the event can request for police or fire personnel to be present. Village administration will also determine, based on certain criteria, if safety personnel are needed for the event,” Zavala said. “The current rate is not aligned with the salary expense of sworn police officer and fire staffing.”
The cost to residents for false alarm calls to the police or fire departments will apply after two instances rather than after three. Now, all fees for false alarms are just $50, but Zavala said staff recommended charging residents more for unnecessary calls to the fire department than to police next year after surveying the costs in nearby communities.
“Based on that survey, staff was notified that other communities have a structure where it differentiates between police calls for a false alarm and fire calls,” she said. “Three other villages … differentiate between police and fire based on staffing needs” and other costs, like deploying a firetruck.
The costs for false alarm calls to police will be $100 and $125 for single-family homes, respectively, while the costs for false alarm calls to the fire department will be $200 and $300 instead.
Fees related to certificates of occupancy and compliance will go up $25 next year. Certificates of compliance for properties will cost $350 in total, plus $25 for each unit after the second in multi-family properties. Property transfers that are exempt from certificate of compliance requirements will cost $50.
Permits for temporary uses of the right-of-way will double in cost, going from $50 to $100 next year. According to meeting documents, these permits are for “cases where a short-term, limited use of right-of-way is unavoidable or infeasible,” like if active construction prevents equipment from being placed on private property.
The fee to turn on a property’s water outside of business hours, be it after 4:30 p.m., on a weekend or on a holiday, will rise from $100 to $150 to better align with the cost of staff time.
“The fee is not in alignment with the salary expense incurred when such events happen because [public works] water [and sewer] employees are under the [Service Employees International] Union, and if they are called back, it’s a minimum [cost] of two hours,” she said.
