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13.

Brentwood City Commission Agenda

Meeting Date:	06/28/2021
Resolution 2021-81 - Authorizing Administrative Approval of Refunds of Certain Excess Building Permit Fees Collected by the City
Submitted by:	Kristen Corn, Legal
Department:	Legal

Information

Subject

Resolution 2021-81 - Authorizing Administrative Approval of Refunds of Certain Excess Building Permit Fees Collected by the City

Background

As part of an implementation of a new Planning and Codes software system over the past several months, staff discovered an error that resulted in the City collecting building permit fees in excess of those adopted by the City.

While the building permit fees were last updated in 2017, the adopted version of the ordinance included an incorrect version of the fee calculation table instead of the then-current version of the table which was not intended to change. Since that ordinance adoption, the software continued to calculate fees based on the table that was in place in 2017 instead of the prior version of the table that was mistakenly adopted in 2017. Staff also discovered that the software system was incorrectly calculating the permit fee based on the individual valuation of each component instead of aggregating the valuation for all components and then calculating the total permit fee. Because our fee table has a base permit fee that is higher than the fee would be for the same valuation incrementally added to a much larger project, the permit fees being charged were higher than they should have been.

The calculation issue was fixed earlier this fiscal year with the implementation of the new software. Staff is in the process of reviewing each building permit issued since July 1, 2017 (the effective date of the incorrect fee table) to determine the appropriate amounts, if any, to be refunded for each. Because the Municipal Code provides that staff may only authorize the refunding of any fee paid upon written request filed by the original applicant no later than 180 days from the date of the issuance of the permit, staff recommends approval from the Board of Commissioners to issue any applicable refunds necessary back to permits issued on or after July 1, 2017.

Should you have any questions, please feel free to contact the City Manager, City Attorney, or Planning and Codes Director.

Staff Recommendation

Staff recommends approval of Resolution 2021-81.

Previous Commission Action

There has been no previous action by the Board of Commissioner concerning this subject.

Fiscal Impact

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Fiscal Impact:

Finance Department staff is working with the City's auditors to determine the most appropriate method for accounting for the required refunds.

Attachments
Resolution 2021-81
Signed Resolution