Certain fees you pay to the city might be increasing. Here's where the money will be spent
Oklahoma City leaders were shown a plan Tuesday that would increase fees, and thereby city revenue, by millions of dollars a year once fully implemented.
The money would come from increasing fees charged by several city departments, based in part off a study commissioned by the Oklahoma City Council in 2021 and performed by MGT of America Consulting.
"That report, in summary, said that we were under-charging about $21 million for what it costs us to deliver those services," said city budget director Chris York. "We need to do these reviews every so often. We can't legally charge more than it costs us to deliver the service, especially when we're the only game in town able to provide that service."
After briefing councilors, city staff and stakeholders last year, the budget office drafted ordinances to raise approximately $9.5 million a year through increased fee amounts. Some of the fee increases will take four years to fully implement.
Where will the money from increased fees go?
City fees cover a wide variety of services provided by the city, such as permits for events, construction, animal welfare, court costs and fire inspections. It does not include fines.
A public hearing on the fee increases will be held during the May 7 city council meeting. A final vote is expected on May 21.
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Here is the amount of new revenue expected by each department to receive if fees are increased:
Municipal Court: $415,130
Animal Welfare: $96,556
Code Enforcement: $657,194
Development Center (Building Codes/Land Use): $3.27 million over three years
Fire Prevention: $2.6 million over four years
Fire Dept. False Alarms: $459,144
City Planning: $3,500
Public Works: $1,969,667
This article originally appeared on Oklahoman: OKC Council considering an increase in city fees to raise $9.5 million
