HomeMy WebLinkAbout2025-04 Setting Public Safety Support Fee and Repealing Resolution 2018-09RESOLUTION NO.2025-04
A RESOLUTION SETTING THE PUBLIC SAFETY SUPPORT FEE AND
REPEALING RESOLUTION 2018-09.
RECITALS:
A. The City of Ashland operates and provides electric utilities for all residential and
commercial customers within its boundaries.
B. The City of Ashland maintains public safety services that strive to provide excellent
and full -service emergency services to the community.
C. Using the existing electric billing system to charge and collect a public safety support
fee is an equitable and reasonable way of generating additional revenue for the City's
General Fund to better fund emergency services, which plays a vital role in protecting
public health.
D. Funds generated through this assessment will exclusively fund public safety in the
General Fund, for the purposes of emergency services.
E. In order to maintain and preserve these services, the City wishes to impose the
following fees.
THE CITY OF ASHLAND HEREBY RESOLVES AS FOLLOWS:
SECTION 1. Resolution 2018-09, which set a Public Safety Support Fee of $1.50, is hereby
repealed in order to implement a new fee schedule as outlined below.
SECTION 2. A Public Safety Support Fee of $5.00 shall be charged each month to each City of
Ashland utility customer with an active electric meter to fund emergency services in the General
Fund, for the purpose of emergency services.
SECTION 3. To account for inflation an annual adjustment will be applied on July Is' of each
fiscal year. The adjustment shall be based on the percentage change in the Consumer Price Index
for All Urban Consumers (CPI-U), West Region, for the most recent 12-month period available,
not to exceed 5% annually. The Finance Department shall provide public notice of the proposed
adjustment at least 30 days before it takes effect, along with a brief explanation of the CPI
calculation. An annual increase above 5% requires separate approval by the City Council via a
duly noticed public meeting.
SECTION 4. Clarification of Fee Nature and Enforcement.
(a) The Public Safety Support Fee are hereby designated as service charges and not taxes,
special assessments, or systems development charges.
Resolution No. 2025-04 Pagc 1 of 2
(b) The obligation to pay these fees arises solely from the use of and connection to City
services and is the responsibility of the utility customer of record. These fees shall not be
imposed upon property or property owners as a direct consequence of ownership.
(c) Nonpayment of these fees shall not result in a lien on real property and shall not be
enforced through foreclosure or other remedies typically associated with property taxes
or assessments, unless the customer of record on the utility bill is also the owner of the
property, in which case enforcement is based on their role as the occupant and customer
of record, not by virtue of property ownership.
(d) Nothing in this Resolution shall be construed to authorize the imposition of any
charge subject to the limitations of Article XI, Sections 11 or 1 lb of the Oregon
Constitution.
SECTION 5. This resolution is effective upon adoption.
This resolution was duly PASSED and ADOPTED this day of
2025 and takes effect July 1, 2025, upon signing by the Mayor.
I %- d
Alissa Kolodzinslci, City Recorder
SIGNED and APPROVED this (— day of 2025.
Tonya Graham, Mayor
Resolution No. 2025-04
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