April 1, 2008

City Council will Review Fees Charged to Fresno Residents and Businesses After Chamber’s Recommendations
 

Councilmember Duncan Votes Against the Tabled Recommendation
 

Council members tabled the vote on increasing fees for two more weeks. The Chamber strongly encourages the council members to carefully examine all fee increases and weigh them against increasing the cost of doing business in our community. Chamber leaders have met with city staff to voice their concern over the number and rate of fee hike and will continue to advocate for smaller and fewer fee increases.

“Many of the fees are being by double digit increases, and that is a hard hit on small businesses. It is not fair to those paying taxes for city services,” stated Ruth Evans, Chair, Government Affairs Council. Though many fees have not been increased in some cases for more than a decade, the Chamber recommends phased fee increases to meet the needs of small businesses and individuals alike.

Click here for the Chamber's City Budget Analysis.

Click here for the Chamber's memorandum to the City Council.

June 21, 2007

Fresno Chamber Issues Statement Regarding the City Budget

Over the past few weeks the Fresno Chamber’s City Budget Task Force has been working with city staff to analyze and make recommendations for the 2007-2008 budget. Although the Chamber does not have a few pending issues with the current budget, the Chamber is pleased to see the financial management of the overall budget.

A primary concern is that parking revenues in the city are not paying for operational costs. It has been brought to our attention that ticket debt collection is only at 30%. While in addition the bond paying for the convention center garage is causing a deficit in the entire parking budget. If we continue to promote the revitalization of downtown parking will remain to be a crucial issue that must be addressed in the budget.

There is also the issue that perhaps infrastructure and maintenance costs have been deferred for too long and the costs may be exponentially greater than budgeted. This is another area that needs to be carefully analyzed to ensure the city does not fall short of its commitment to infrastructure and maintenance needs.

That being said, the Fresno Chamber is very pleased to see there is an emergency reserve fund that will increase this year as well as a contingency fund that will help prepare the budget for the 2008-2009 cycle. We believe that is good budget practice and recommend the city budget staff continue this practice in future years.

In future years the Fresno Chamber would like to be a part and have advance notice on the Master Fee Schedule that is now being distributed during January of each year.

Download a copy of the letter from the Chamber to Councimember Henry Perea.

Contact Kerri Ginis, the Chamber's Government Affairs Manager for more information at (559) 495-4818 or kginis@fresnochamber.com