COUNTY OF SAN MATEO

Inter-Departmental Correspondence

Department of Public Works

DATE:

August 13, 2004

BOARD MEETING DATE:

August 31, 2004

TO:

Honorable Board of Supervisors

FROM:

Neil R. Cullen, Director of Public Works

SUBJECT:

Revision in Fees Charged to Check Records of Surveys - County Wide

Recommendation

Adopt an ordinance:

1.

Amending Section 7010.5b(2) of the Subdivision regulations that established map checking fees for Records of Surveys; and

2.

Establishing the fee schedule for checking Records of Surveys.

Previous Board Action

Adopted an ordinance establishing the current fees for checking Records of Surveys in 1993.

Key Facts

Ø

Section 8766.5 of the California Business and Professions Code allows a board of supervisors to establish the cost of checking records of surveys in excess of $100 by ordinance, if it is demonstrated pursuant to a staff report that the actual cost to a county for checking a record of survey is over $100.

Ø

The average cost of checking a record of survey over the past two years was $243.

Ø

We are recommending a tiered fixed fee structure to reduce the administrative costs associated with checking records of surveys and to collect sufficient fees to cover the cost of checking these maps.

Discussion

The current fees for checking a record of survey map were approved by your Board after considering the input of the engineers and surveyors who submit maps to the County for review and recordation.

The current process requires that we collect a deposit for each map, that we collect an increase in the deposit if additional costs are incurred, and that we refund any portion of a deposit remaining after the map is approved. The method is both time consuming and expensive for the Department as each fee has to be set up in an individual account and tracked through both the Department’s and the Controller’s accounting systems, and warrants have to be processed for the refunds. The current fee schedule also requires the County to absorb map-checking costs that exceeds $500 per map, and does not cover any of the costs of maintaining the required geographical index of these maps.

We evaluated the cost of checking 186 maps over the past two years and are recommending that the fee be set at $188 for the first sheet, and $82 for each additional sheet of a multi-sheet map. This charge would include two reviews of the survey with additional reviews being charged at a rate of $80 per sheet per additional review. Exhibit A is a summary of our evaluation and recommendation. The proposed fee structure has advantages for the County as it reduces our administrative costs and avoids the County having to absorb the additional costs of map checking that have occurred in the past. The fee structure also has advantages for the engineers/surveyors as they can anticipate the cost of checking their maps by the number of sheets and the quality of the map submitted.

We contacted the Peninsula Chapter of the Consulting Engineers and Land Surveyors of California (CELSOC) regarding the proposed fees, and they are supportive of the new fee structure. However, they expressed concerns about third and subsequent submittal charges. We will develop criteria as to what necessitates a charge for a third or subsequent submittal and will share that information with CELSOC and other practitioners if your Board approves the proposed fee structure.

Vision Alignment

We believe our recommendation is consistent with the Shared Commitment of a “responsive, effective and collaborative government” and Goal Number 21, “county employees understand and support and integrate the County vision and goals into their delivery of services,” as implementing a fixed fee per page per review rate structure, matches the cost to the level of service necessary to insure that maps that are received meet the requirements of Section 8762 et. seq. of the Business and Professions Code.

Fiscal Impact

The General Fund incurred approximately $3,200 over the last two years for map checking costs that were not recovered under the current rate structure. We believe that the proposed rate structure will balance the cost of checking records of surveys with the staff time involved, with no net cost or impact to the General Fund.

A form of ordinance has been approved by County Counsel.