Torrance Proposes User Fee Hike
Torrance is proposing changes to its current Master Fee schedule that will increase many of the current user and regulatory fees. The changes are the result of a City-Wide User Fee Study that was commissioned by the Council in late 2016 at a cost of $45K. The study included a review of the 500+ existing user and regulatory fees. As a result of that review the City is proposing increases to a majority of the existing fees as well as proposing 13 new types of fees. If implemented, the new fee schedule is expected to generate approximately $570K in additional revenue.
The vast majority of the these fees already increase on an annual basis based on the Consumer Price Index for Urban Wage Earners and Clerical Workers (CPI-W). Per the staff report, the cost of providing the services has outpaced the CPI growth thereby necessitating the proposed increases.
Most of the proposed fee increases are relatively modest. Some, however, are more significant. A few examples of the increases are included below:
- Fee for a Conditional Use Permit (new >8 unit/>15 Com Ind SF) will increase from $3,418 to 13,684;
- Fee for an Environmental Assessment will increase from $3,535 to $10,193;
- A person retrieving a dog/cat from impound may now be subject to a new $114 per hour special handling fee (plus an existing per incident fee);
- Fee to appeal a matter to the City Council will increase from $288 to $750;
In recent years, the City Council has approved increases to water rates, refuse collection services, and sewer collection services as well as implemented a new green building fee. The City has also enacted the Optimized Street Sweeping Program which is viewed by some as a stealth revenue generating scheme.
The Council will discuss the matter of the new fee schedule at its meeting this evening.
Torrance has always had a reputation of being impossible to work with. These exorbitant fees don’t surprise me one bit. It goes with the old saying no fun allowed in Torrance.Your fees will be a deterrent to perspective home buyers; and also to residents thinking about adding on an addition. We recently cancel our trash and the neighbor on the right and left of us cancel our trash and we went into partnership with the neighbors across the street to save 50% on the observing it trash cost in Torrance I suggest you guys do the same.
mikey griffiths, cousin milton and heidi are SUPPOSEDLY supporting brewer for mayor…what a joke…can someone please tell me the policy differences between furey and brewer?? i do not see any at all…the 3 clowns i mentioned in this comment ALL VOTED WITH furey on many things…to spend money needlessly on pet projects and silly ass development…it’s business as usual with all of them…brewer included…if you people are serious about your city then you will vote these clowns out in june…weideman, goodrich, furey rizzo gotta go…i support aurelio, sutherland and chen….
Street sweeping is a joke on my side of the street….. the west side has there’s sweep every week, but on our side, east side has been sweep a half a dozen times since it started more then 6 months ago….. our hours are 2pm to 5pm…… believe we are the last street on their schedule and I’m sure just want to go home…..
Oh, before someone or the city says “well maybe your not home when it happens”
That doesn’t fly for two reasons, first, we are retired and pretty much home all the time…. and let’s just, we have a Dr’s appointment…… my security system does leave the house and never sleeps….. heh
This is posted on the same day that the Daily Breeze reports that “Sales tax revenue in Torrance is up by $2.6 million, in large part driving by increases generated by the renovation of Del Amo Fashion Center”. Where is that $ going?????
Judy….the $ is going to pet projects, the corrupt chamber, and some to pensions…. Torrance is big time in the red because of a totally corrupt council…. their answer is to take more money from you because they are inept
$144, per HOUR if your dog or cat is impounded!!!!!!! You have got to be kidding. Do you know how many owners are going to have to let their animals die because they can’t afford to bail them out. The city spent 45K on a study to raise taxes. I sure hope the voters of Torrance read this and get rid of the entire council.
Are they sending the pets to ClubMed?
Pet auction coming soon!
WTF is the city council smoking ? So from pet owners cat / Dog gets out and he / she doesn’t discover it whereabouts for 2/3 hrs it’s going to cost the over $300.00 ? What happens if it takes a day or so that’s almost $3,000.00 . What IDIOT thought this up . Time to vote all the incumbents out from the mayor to all the city council . I will not be voting for any incumbent this election .
Mike Griffiths
Griffiths and herring are furey yes men…. youare stuck with them…vote for Aurelio and Sutherland….the clowns weideman and Goodrich are furey yes men too…this current council has bankrupted Torrance and they want alot more money from Torrance residents
VOTE OUT THE INCUMBENTS. This is insanity
Street sweeping is a big joke in my Neiborhood when they took out the middle parking they created a DRAG STRIP( Border Ave) Then on top of that they have street sweeping on both sids on same day. Sign reads MON-THURS 2-6 AM. THEN THEY ONLY SHOW UP ONCE A MONTH THEN DONT DO IT SAYING TOO MANY CARS PARKED ON THE STREET. They also told me we get to figure out which day they are coming. Really where are we to park? So it doesnt get done. An Engineer at the city told me they were going to change it but never did. Now we have racers on our steet doing donuts at the 4 way stop at 220th and Border and guys racibg from one stop sign to another. Police drive through. Once in awhile but never stay to catch anyone.
Vote them all out
Yep…. vote them all out
The street sweeping scheme is viewed by MANY as just that…A SCHEME….put in place just to raise more money for the bankrupted city….these are your trusted furey yes men at work…. their own agenda at work…. backroom deals with developers..the corrupt chamber…etc….and they want to spend tons more of your money on assinine projects…
The clowns are trying to pass crap before the election…. business as usual….
Torrance is being run by scumbag crooks. If you look at their method for raising these fees, it is all about covering existing budgets and staffing levels rather than evaluating the cost vs benefit and practicality of the service provided. For instance if the dog pound is overstaffed due to lack of use, they simply take the existing budget and divide by the number of dog captures and set the new fee rather than determining that they no longer need to staff the department as heavily. Every public employee union in the City should be investigated for collusion and fraud.
yep…and the only way to get rid of the scumbags is VOTE THEM OUT!!!
Ridiculous to say the least. Money grab once again.
hey aurelio…guess what…parking enforcement is downtown today….IT’S A MIRACLE!!….election is close and all of a sudden we get a parking officer downtown!!! it’s divine intervention!!!!
Yes, they all care within 8 weeks of election day