The Contractor is required to conduct a user fee study. This study will calculate the full cost of all current and potential fee-for-services for certain General Fund and Enterprise Fund departments, divisions, and services and look for new fees. A user fee service is one in which the applicant (personal, business, organization) receives a benefit that does not accrue to non-applicants. The purpose of a user fee study is to identify the full cost of providing a service and then set a cost recovery and subsidy level that is appropriate to the market, service, department, and goals of the City. The recipients of some user fee services benefit monetarily. In this case, the recovery/subsidy policy is to recover the full costs of those services, such as development services. Policy making groups across the country routinely set these fees to recover full, or near full costs. The recipients of some user fee services do not benefit monetarily, but rather more in a sense of quality of life or community. The recovery/subsidy policy is set to recover only a portion of the full costs of those services such as recreation and library services.
