Mendocino County’s Board of Supervisors approved an amended master fee schedule this week, after a public hearing that highlighted the impact of the fees on residents.
Assistant CEO Sara Pierce defended the increases, saying they reflect the true cost of delivering services. She said Mendocino reached out to five other counties to review fee structures and found a consistent formula.
“All five counties included a calculation for department direct labor costs, operating costs, and the department's portion of the county A87 cost allocation,” Pierce said.
The A87 cost allocation covers indirect support—things like IT services.
Pierce noted that the revised schedule follows direction from the board’s April 8th meeting, when supervisors asked staff to model what full cost recovery would look like.
But for residents like Sienna Madison of Willits, the fee hikes are personal.
“I went into the planning department with a very simple border line adjustment—just a hundred feet of fence, 0.09 acres. And the fee? $2,878. That doesn’t include the surveyor,” Madison told the board. “When I looked up the California code, it said fees may not exceed the estimated reasonable cost of providing the service
for which the fee is charged. Then I looked up Proposition 218 and it says revenues derived from the fee or charge shall not exceed the funds required to provide the property-related service. The other thing that struck me was the amount of a fee or charge imposed upon any parcel or person as an incident of property ownership shall not exceed proportional cost of service."
Madison said the amount that she is being charged did not appear to be in-line with the work needed to adjust the property border.
Supervisor Ted Williams said he supports cost recovery in principle—but he acknowledged the public’s frustration.“There’s dismay at how expensive it is to do business [in Mendocino County],” he said. “It hurts the economy and makes a lot of people sidestep the process, which isn’t good for anyone.”
Supervisor Madeline Cline urged caution. “I want us to be careful in our good intentions—aligning fees with staff time, but also in how we’re communicating with the public. Right now, it seems very volatile,” she said.
Cline also described research she had done into fees levied by neighboring counties, and questioned by Mendocino County's fees are significantly higher.
Cline said the fees in Lake County's updated November 2024 fee schedule are generally lower than in Mendocino County. For example, the fee for a bakery permit in Lake County is $625, while Mendocino’s is currently $800 with a proposed increase to $900—and that is still well below the $1,500 needed for full cost recovery.
"How are we going to get to a place where our fees make sense for our community and we feel assured that they are the best that we can can put forth?" Cline said.
Pierce noted not all fees increased, and for those that rose more than 50 percent—in reference to supervisory roles—the county will phase in the changes over time to reduce the shock to the public. In addition to reimbursing the county for staff time, residents who require fee-based services must reimburse the county for the cost of supervising workers who deliver those services.
Supervisor John Haschak asked how the fee changes would impact the county’s budget deficit. Pierce said they expect a decrease in revenue of nearly three-quarters of a million dollars—mostly due to efficiency gains in the Department of Environmental Health, where a recent time study showed more than $500,000 in savings.
Despite the concerns, the board voted unanimously to approve the amended fee schedule.
