A question that I am often asked by City Council members is, “Aren’t taxes already paying staff’s salaries, so why do we need to worry...

The common understanding is that a fee study is performed to increase city revenues (even though the conversation should be about...

In a recent article, I talked about Proposition 4, passed in 1979, as the godfather of voter initiatives that defined service fees and...

After calculating the full cost for a current development-related application, the RCS effort turns to the process of cost recovery by...

A recent question on the CSMFO website was from a finance director that wondered what to do when the fiscal year had twenty-seven pay...

After going through the process of doing a Fee Study and getting the fees approved by your Council, your thoughts turn to having a really...

In just about every project we work on our client city asks for a fee comparison to neighboring cities. And just about every time we...

We all know that government is not allowed to make a profit on the services that it provides.  While there are exceptions with the rental...

At about every other Council or town-hall meeting I attend there is the question about whether development fees (planning fees, permit...

Since there is a lot of interest in credit card processing and convenience fees recently, I thought this would be a great time to write...

As the typical reader of the RCS blog articles, you are a technically skilled government finance professional and can make a strong...

While performing a fee update and going through the hundreds of different fees and fines which a city may have, we noticed some fees...

As part of a Cost of Services Study we are usually asked to provide the full cost of Recreation services and then make recommendations to...

There are two different approaches to doing a Fee Study.  You can either do a comprehensive study that involves the entire organization...

The same person who is credited with inventing accounting, Luca Pacioli, an Italian mathematician from the 15th century, is also credited...

When the authors of Proposition 4 in 1979 were writing the ballot measure it was based on the idea that government should act more like a...

So you have just updated your fees and you are justifiably proud of this accomplishment.  Now, what’s next?  You could just rest on your...

When I first started doing Cost Studies, cities were unlikely to know the cost of their services let alone charge what the services cost....

For many years the credit card industry vigorously fought against any effort to charge a processing fee to use a credit card.  Credit...

Nine years ago, I wrote the following article. Since the concepts are just as relevant today, I’m reprinting it with some editorial...