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HomeMy WebLinkAbout184 - 11/21/2006 - AMENDING CHAPTER 7.5 OF THE CITY CODE TO ESTABLISH A TRANSPORTATION MAINTENANCE FEE, DEFEATED ON SEC ORDINANCE NO. 184, 2006 OF THE COUNCIL OF THE CITY OF FORT COLLINS AMENDING CHAPTER 7.5 OF THE CODE OF THE CITY OF FORT COLLIN O ESTABLISH A TRANSPORTATION MAINTENANCE FEE WHEREAS, the City has, over recent years, experienced a downturn ' revenues that has challenged the City's ability to deliver the same,high-quality level of service at its residents have historically enjoyed; and WHEREAS, this reduction in revenues has led to substant' budget cuts and service reductions; and WHEREAS, the Colorado courts have recognized the ility of home rule municipalities such as Fort Collins to enact special service fees to help de ay the costs of providing particular government services; and WHEREAS, such special service fees must be st related and calculated in a manner that will fairly and rationally distribute the costs of the ded services among those who benefit from the services; and WHEREAS,the Council believes it to necessary and appropriate to adopt a Transportation Maintenance Fee ("TMF") to defray a porti of the cost incurred by the City in maintaining City streets, with the remaining portion of sai osts to be funded by other, existing revenue sources of the City; and WHEREAS, City staff ha a proposed formula for calculating such fee that fairly and rationally reflects the proportion a share of such costs to be borne by those who benefit from the funded services; and WHEREAS, the p oposed TMF would be imposed on the owners of all non-exempt, developed property in th City,with each feepayer's share of the TMF to be based on the size of the developed parcel ofpr erty and the number of vehicular trips typically generated by the type of use to which the propert is put; and WHERE S,based upon accepted Transportation Engineering practices, all properties that would be sub' ct to the TMF generate impacts upon the City's transportation system that are commensur with the amount of the fee to be assessed those properties; and EREAS,the City's streetS and t...sprntatirnrsystem is available to all fee payers,so that the pr erties paying the fee will continneto benefit from the use of the fee revettt g.to mairrtemnee ofm ntait the City's street system; and DEFEATED ON SECOND READING WHEREAS,the Council believes it to be in the City's best interests to exempt from th TMF those properties that are owned =rdor occupied by publicly funded entities in order blic p oses;and avoid diminishing the public revenues available to those entities and to carry out their pu WHEREAS, the Council further believes it to be in the City's best interests also exempt from the TMF properties that are owned=dor occupied by places of worship, so to not impose a burden on religion through the imposition of this fee,and to exempt private sc ools as we11, so as to treat both public and private schools equally under this Ordinance. NOW, THEREFORE, BE IT ORDAINED BY THE COUNCIL THE CITY OF FORT COLLINS that a Chapter 7.5 of the Code of the City of Fort Collin is hereby amended by the addition of a new Article IX to read as follows: ARTICLE IX. TRANSPORTATION MAINTENA CE FEE Sec. 7.5-110. Intent. The provisions of this Article are intend to impose a special service fee for the operation and maintenance of City's sportation system, in an amount calculated as shown herein. Said fee sh not be used to collect more than is necessary to fund such operation and mai enance. The revenues from said fee shall be used to keep the City's transportatio ystem maintained, clean and safe, and for administration of the provisions of " Article, in order that the health, safety and welfare of users of the City's transp ation system may be safeguarded. Sec. 7.5-111. Definitions. When used in this icle, the following words and terms shall have the following meanings: Commercial s 11 mean any premises not a dwelling or residential use, or a retail, high-traffic re '1, industrial or institutional use. Director all mean the Director of Transportation Services or his or her designee. Dw ling unit, shall mean one(1)or more rooms and a single kitchen and at least one ) bathroom designed, occupied or intended for occupancy as separate quarter for the exclusive use of a single family, for living, cooking and sanitary purpo s, located in a single-family, two-family or multi-family dwelling or mixed use ilding. Feepayer shall mean a person or entity who is obligated to pay a fee in cordance with the provisions of this Article. DEFEATED ON SECOND READING -2- Financial Officer shall mean the Financial Officer of the City of Fort Colli s or such other person designated by the municipality. Financial Officer shall so include such person's designee. High-Traffic Retail shall mean any retail establishment (wheth greater or lesser in size than twenty-five thousand(25,000)square feet)which h automobile volumes greater than one thousand (1,000) trips per day/per acre. Industrial shall mean any business devoted primaril to manufacturing, processing, assembly or storage of tangible personal propert , any research facility, experimental or testing laboratory,warehouse, distributio r wholesale use, utility service facility,aircraft hangar and repair facility for aircr ,construction contracting facility, mineral extraction facility; and caretaker's arters and other accessory buildings reasonably required for maintenance or s unty of such uses. Institutional shall mean any place of wo ip or assembly,public use, semi- public use, community facility, school, hospi or cemetery. Mobile home space shall mean place designed for the placement of a mobile home or trailer and improved w' City utilities. Multi family dwelling shall can a dwelling containing three (3) or more dwelling units, not including hote , motels, fraternity houses, sorority houses and similar group accommodations. Place of worship s all mean a building containing a sanctuary, hall, auditorium or other suitabl room or rooms used by the occupants of such structure for the purpose of cond ting religious services. Place of worship shall include churches, synagogues, osques, temples and the like. Private sch 1 shall mean any school that offers any or all grades from kindergarten thro twelfth (12th) grade education that is not associated with a school district. Retail shall mean any retail establishment(whether greater or lesser in size than tw my-five thousand (25,000) square feet) engaged in the sale or rental of goods services to the public that is not high-traffic retail. rip shall mean a single or one-directional vehicle movement. Trip Generation shall mean the number of trips attracted to or created by a sp cific building or land use as defined by the Institute of Transportation gineers (ITE) Trip Generation Manual. DEFEATED ON SECOND READING -3- Sec. 7.5-112. Imposition of fee. (a) Except as provided in subsection(d)below, there is hereby establishe a transportation maintenance fee which shall be imposed pursuant to the pro ' ions of this Article, on property within the city for the purpose of funding the eration and maintenance of the city's transportation system. (b) The amount of the fee for 2007 shall be $+.6+1.06 per dwe ng unit per month and, for all other uses shall be in accordance with the foll ing schedule and formula: Each lot, tract, or parcel used for institutional purposes: $ . 15.44 per month for each acre Each lot, tract, or parcel used for industrial purposes: f 2.4913.69 per month for each acre Each lot, tract, or parcel used for high traffic re it purposes: $i 1.9.3 f 125.1'1 per month for each acre Each lot, tract, or parcel used for retail p oses: $493651.65 per month for each acre Each lot, tract, or parcel used for co ercial purposes: $f5.6716.44 per month for each acre Calculati n of Fee for Each Category: Average Daily x Vear Total Daily x 365 = Total Trips Per D.U. Trips by days Annual or Acre Category Trips Target Annual — Cost Per x Total Annual = Annual Fee Revenue Trip Trips per D.U. or Acre D.U. =Dwel ng Unit Acres =Pa cel acreage for each non-residential utility billing customer DEFEATED ON SECOND READING -4- (c) The amount of the fee may be adjusted up or down from time to time based upon revised estimates of the costs ofmaintenance of the City's street system,revised categories of uses and trip generation factors,and other factors reasonably related to the needs created or contributed to by properties subject to the fee, but in no eve shall the amount of the fee collected exceed the projected costs for operation d maintenance of the city's transportation system. (d) The transportation maintenance fee shall not be charged agains property owned or occupied by the United States, the State of Colorado, Col ado State University, Larimer County, any school district (including charter s ools) or any other political subdivision established by the law of the State of olorado or the United States,or anyproperty used primarily as a place of worship r private school. Sec. 7.5-113. Billing; collection; expenditure of proceeds- enforcement. (a) The fee shall be billed and collected with monthly ity utility bills issued on or after January 1,2007,pursuant to Article XII of Chap 26 of the Code regarding utility accounts, billing and collections, for each pr erty utilizing City utilities, whether billed to the owner or occupant of prop e , except that the City may not disconnect utility services to a property solel for non-payment or delinquent payment of the transportation maintenance fee. (b) The utility shall be entitled to retai from fee proceeds, or to otherwise be reimbursed for, its costs of billing and c ection, as required by Art. V, §23 of the Charter. The remaining proceeds fro the fee shall be deposited in a restricted account within the Transportation and and shall be used solely to fund the maintenance of city streets, includ' g curbs, gutters, bridges, parkways, shoulders, bike lanes, medians and city-mai tained sidewalks, but not including landscaping. (c) The Financial Offic may formulate and promulgate rules and regulations for the administration of this rticle,not inconsistent with the provisions of this Article, with respect to the bill' g and collection of the transportation maintenance fee and other related matters Such rules and regulations shall be consistent with rules and regulations autho J ed by Section 26-720 of the City Code regarding billing and collection of util' y fees and charges. Sec. 7.5-114 Unpaid charges a lien. (a) a fee imposed by this Article, together with interest and the collection costs, ' not paid by the due date specified on the utility bill, constitute a perpetual lien n the property to which the fee applies. DEFEATED ON SECOND READING -5- (b) The attachment of such lien is not dependent on the recording of written notice, and the lien is prior and superior to all other liens, claims, titles and encumbrances whether or not prior in time except liens for general taxes and utilities. The lien remains attached to the property from the date the fees became due until th delinquent fees, together with interest and costs of collection, if any, are paid. (c) When the tenant in possession of the property served or any third p n pays the transportation maintenance fee,it shall relieve the landowner from the igations and lien imposed by this Article,but the City is not required to seek pa ent of the transportation maintenance fee from any person other than the owner. o change of ownership,occupation or possession shall affect the application of is Section, and the failure of any owner to discover that he or she purchased prop y against which a lien for the transportation maintenance fee exists shall in o way affect such owner's liability for payment in full. (d) The City may enforce the lien by a suit for foreclos a and sale of the property subject to the lien. The proceeds of the sale shall be a lied to the unpaid fees and allowable costs in the manner provided for foreclos a of statutory liens. The lien may also be enforced by certification of assessmen pon the property to the County Treasurer for collection by the County in the s e manner as delinquent general taxes and special assessments upon such prope are collected or by any other means provided by law. (e) Delinquent fees together with ' terest and collection costs may also be collected by civil suit against the owne of the property served,or by any other lawful means, at any time after the charg become delinquent. The remedies provided under this Article are cumulative d supplemental to each other. Sec. 7.5-115. Rebates. (a) Persons who me the requirements listed in Sec. 25-49 of the City Code regarding the sales tax bate on food may apply annually for a rebate of up to one hundred (100) perce of the transportation maintenance fee paid in the preceding calendar year. (b) The Fi cial Officer shall administer the rebate program established by this Section, and ay prepare a rebate application form, adopt rules and regulations consistent ith the provisions of this Article and audit and verify the applications submitte pursuant to this Section. Any refund application form shall require the applic t to verify and sign the application under oath. The burden shall be on the app ' ant to prove entitlement to a rebate under this Section,including proof that the ap icant paid the transportation maintenance fee in full for the calendar year for hich application is made. The Financial Officer may require reasonable information to support the rebate application. DEFEATED ON SECOND READING -6- Sec. 7.5-116. Appeals. Property owners or tenants may appeal to the Director in writing at any time the question of whether properties owned or occupied by them are being char the proper fee under the provisions of this Article. The burden shall be on the plicant to provide substantial, competent evidence that the property that is the s Ject of the appeal is not being charged the proper fee. The Director may hold a acing on the appeal in his or her discretion, and may consider other competent e ' ence provided by City staff. The Director's written decision shall be mailed to applicant within thirty (30) days of receipt of the appeal. The applicant may ppeal the Director's decision to the City Manager pursuant to Division 3 of Ch er 2 of the City Code. A successful applicant shall not be entitled to a refund of fees paid for the subject property prior to the date of the Director's decision. Introduced, considered favorably on first readin , and ordered published this 7th day of November, A.D. 2006, and to be presented for final p sage on the 21st day of November, A.D. 2006. Mayor ATTEST: City Clerk Passed and adopted o final reading on the 21 st day of November, A.D. 2006. Mayor ATTEST: City Clerk DEFEATED ON SECOND READING -7-