[Source: Toni Maccarone, City of Phoenix News Release]
On Tuesday, the Phoenix City Council approved a new strategy designed to give the public a more transparent and consistent process when the city is proposing new user fees or recommending changes to existing fees.
“Any new fee proposals from city staff now will be considered only once a year, during the city’s annual public budget hearing process,” said Councilman Bill Gates, chairman of the City Council Finance, Efficiency and Innovation Subcommittee.
“This new strategy will help us move forward in a more open and transparent way, and I am pleased that the process was developed in partnership with city staff and our private sector members of the Innovation and Efficiency Task Force,” he said.
As part of the new strategy, city staff will work with the Parks and Recreation Board to defer consideration of mountain preserve parking fees so they can be examined as part of the comprehensive budget process in Spring 2011. The fees had been scheduled to be discussed at the Oct. 6 City Council meeting.
“I support the city’s new fee strategy and am pleased that the Parks Board can participate in this new process,” said Laura Bell, chairwoman of the Phoenix Parks and Recreation Board.
As approved by the City Council, city staff will compile a comprehensive list of all user fee services, along with an analysis of their cost recovery, and present the information to the City Council by March 2011, in time for the city’s annual public budget hearings. There will be no new user fees or increases to existing fees considered by the City Council until March 2011.
The strategy adopted by the City Council also fully supports the new state law that requires governments to post any recommended fee changes on their websites. The city’s fee area is located on the phoenix.gov homepage.
For more information contact Toni Maccarone at 602-495-5901
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