CAMARILLO : Council OKs Big Increase in City Fees

The Camarillo City Council has voted to raise engineering, planning and city clerk fees to recover an estimated $311,000 that the city expects to lose in the 1991-92 fiscal year providing these services.

The council voted 4 to 1 Wednesday to increase 40 fees, some up to fifteenfold, as of July 13. Councilman Ken Gose voted against the proposal.

The fee hikes came in response to a study conducted by David M. Griffith and Associates of Carmichael, which showed that the city will recover only two-thirds of the $991,000 that it will spend this year to offer 78 fee and non-fee services.

Camarillo officials last raised fees in 1987. “We do plan to evaluate fees on an annual basis from here on out so the increase won’t be so great,” Finance Director Anita Bingham said.

For example, the fee for a permit to do construction work within the public right of way will rise from $25 to $375. The increase will come in three phases over the next year.

In the engineering department, the change-order fee, required when a contractor wants to change approved plans, will rise from $38 to $140.

The cost to obtain public records will triple. The city clerk now charges $12 an hour for research, but the fee will rise to $36 an hour. To file an application to amend the city’s General Plan now costs $1,200 and will rise to $3,000. For the same service, Ojai charges $1,500, Oxnard $9,308, Santa Paula $1,180, and Simi Valley $2,178 to $3,991.