The Valley Chronicle - San Jacinto approves updated TUMF feesng

Retail commercial fees decrease by 28 percent

[caption id="attachment_5565" align="alignright" width="371"] City of Sanjacinto
A chart of the updated TUMF fees that will become effective Nov 1, 2017.[/caption] ■ By Kyle Selby / Reporter Tuesday night, San Jacinto’s City Council approved an updated Transportation Uniform Mitigation Fee (TUMF) schedule, proposed by Western Riverside Council of Governments (WRCOG), to produce city revenue through development activity. During the 2002-2003 fiscal year, the member jurisdiction of WRCOG – a joint powers agency comprised of 18 different cities in Western Riverside County – approved the TUMF program, which was essentially a study to enlarge the capacity of the Regional System of Highways and Arterials in the Western Riverside County (the Regional System) based on the fee structure to produce revenue from development activity within the 18 cities in the county and unincorporated areas. Pursuant to the Mitigation Fee Act, WRCOG has prepared the 2016 Nexus Study to update the fee schedule. “The process has gone through several iterations,” explained City Manager Rob Johnson. “They’ve been vetted by [the] public parks director, city manager, and the WRCOG executive committee comprised of elected officials.” WRCOG’s executive committee, through work done by WRCOG staff working with the Nexus ad-hoc committee, has recommended amending and updating the city’s participation in the TUMF program, and presented it to Council Tuesday night. The TUMF fees, as recommended by the 2016 Nexus study, will be revised as follows: (1) Single family residential – $9,418 per unit by 2021 (6.1 percent increase) (2) Multi-family residential – $6,134 per unit by 2018 (1.6 percent decrease) (3) Industrial project – $1.77 per square foot in 2018 (2.3 percent increase) (4) Retail commercial project – $7.50 per square foot in 2017 (28.5 percent decrease) (5) Service commercial project – $4.56 per square foot in 2018 (8.8 percent increase) (6) Class A and B Office – $2.19 per square foot (No change) “[The new schedule] not only identifies the purpose of the revised fees, but it identifies [how] the revised fees are to be used, including…any facilities to be financed,” described Johnson. “It also determines how there is a reasonable relationship between the fees used and the type of development project upon which the fee is imposed. It determines how there is a reasonable relationship between the amount of fees and the costs of public facilities or a portion of public facilities attributable to the development of which the fees are imposed.” Johnson says that a lot of time, energy, and effort were put into the retail commercial project fee – which decreased by a whopping 28 percent – by the Public Works Department, city staff and the ad-hoc Nexus committee. “We worked really hard with member jurisdictions to control pricing on retail development, because as you know, that’s where we get our sales tax from, so it’s a major piece of our revenue coming to the city,” he said. “[The 28 percent decrease will] foster economic development, and will bring more businesses to the area.” Councilwoman Crystal Ruiz, who sat on the Nexus ad-hoc committee, was pleased to see the updates finally make it to Council after years of discussion. “We’ve put a lot of work into it over the last few months,” said Ruiz. “Everyone involved from Public Works to our city manager, to WRCOG, and all the cities have gone over this with a fine-toothed comb.” Ruiz also stressed the importance of retail revenue for the city of San Jacinto. “We went back and had the ad-hoc committee,” she explained. “We really hashed out the little details, and everybody really fought hard for that retail [decrease]…so I’m really pleased with this and honored to be a part of this.” The updated fee schedule will become effective Nov. 1, 2017 in all member jurisdictions within the county and unincorporated areas.