San Anselmo Approves New Fees, Garbage Rate

The San Anselmo Town Council last night approved a new Master Fee schedule that updated a number of library, recreation and public works/building fees.

You can see the full list of fees and changes at right, but some of the key changes included getting rid of the 50 cent fee to hold a book at the library, change the recreation facility rental rates to hourly, increase the fee to hang banners at the Hub and over Sir Francis Drake Boulevard, and make some of the building fees easier to understand.

"Most of the fees, we're not covering all our costs," said Public Works Director Sean Condry of the building fees. For example, he said, the encroachment permit fee for restaurants to have outdoor seating is just $100, but he spent hours working with the new on the plan for their outdoor seating.

The council also approved a 4.8 percent rate increase for Marin Sanitary Service.

The rate increase was determined by an .

According to Patty Garbarino from MSS, 2.7 percent of the increase was due to an increase in costs. The rest is because of declining revenue as people move to smaller carts in the poor economy.

The 4.8 percent rate increased was also approved for unincorporated areas by the Marin County Board of Supervisors yesterday.

Though San Anselmo had an 18 percent rate increase following a renegotiation of the contract in 2008 and , because of long-term discrepancies in the contract, it's expected that there will only be small year-to-year increases moving forward.