Some City Fees Could Drop, Others Added Under San Ramon Proposal

SAN RAMON, CA — The San Ramon City Council will review a proposed update to the Master Fee Schedule for the 2026-27 fiscal year at its Tuesday meeting. Each year, this process sets hundreds of fees for permits, city services, and development activity that are paid by businesses and residents.

Staff are asking council to schedule a public hearing for March 24, where they will consider formally adopting the updated fee schedule and approving several updated nexus fee studies, which determine how development-related fees are calculated.

California law permits cities to charge fees to recover the cost of services like processing permits, reviewing development applications, and administering municipal programs. San Ramon periodically adjusts those fees to reflect the cost of providing the services.

The proposed schedule includes 1,008 fees. 51% of fees will be adjusted, 48% will remain unchanged, and 10 new fees will be introduced. Staff said 424 fees will increase based on the Consumer Price Index, while some other fees are proposed to decrease.

Some fees that are scheduled to change are:

• General Plan Recovery Fee: From 0.53% of building valuation to 0.17%
• Zoning Ordinance Recovery Fee: From 0.16% to 0.13%
• Technology Fee: From 4.6% to 4.74%
• Park & Recreation Facility Impact Fee: Formerly based on type of unit, now $1.39 per square foot of residential development
• Parkland Dedication Fee: Formerly based on appraised land value formula, now $22.63 per square foot
• Open Space Development Impact Fee: From $1141 per single family-unit and $750 per multifamily unit; now $1.18 per square foot
• Office: From $0.61 to $0.17 per square foot
• Hotel: From $0.18 per square foot to $200.13 per guest room
• Single-family fee removed, formerly $1163.36 per unit
• Multifamily fee removed, formerly $626.84 per unit, now 29 cents per square foot

See here for the full fee schedule. See here to learn more about this agenda item, and here for Tuesday’s full agenda.