Final Comment Period – Proposed Master Fee Schedule changes
Starting back in June 2024, we began reviewing the fee schedule for fiscal year 2025 and opened up a public comment period. We opened the first public comment period that ended on August 7th, 2024.
We are now extending the final public comment period to August 16, 2024 where all comments will be reviewed by the Board of Selectmen before they take a vote on the fee schedule at an upcoming public meeting.
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Each fiscal year the Board of Selectmen review and vote on the Town’s Master Fee Schedule for the upcoming year.
The fee schedule includes all fees that departments in Town charge for services.
With the conclusion of fiscal year 2024, the Board of Selectmen has voted to consider increasing fees for certain permits/activities for fiscal year 2025.
The Town reviewed Inspectional Services Department fee data from 30 to 35 Massachusetts’ municipalities for the year 2022. The intent of the proposed changes to the fees in this department is to bring Nahant closer to the mean fee rate of this data.
The intention of the proposed increase to the Resident Parking Sticker fee is to generate revenue that will cover the increases of expenses over the past 3 years and the intention of the new format of the fee is to encourage residents to purchase stickers earlier in the year. If approved, the new rate would go into effect January 1, 2025.
Currently, the revenue of Resident Parking Stickers go into the following accounts: 50% general fund revenue, 37.5% recreation revolving revenue, 12.5% sailing revolving revenue.
The recreation revolving account and the sailing revolving account are used to pay for each summer program, which includes funding salaries, supplies, and other program expenses. The recreation program has a director and approximately 3 additional employees per year, while the sailing program now had a director and has approximately 16 additional employees per year.
The increase to minimum wage is the driving factor in the increase of expenses out of these accounts. In 2020, the MA minimum wage was $12.75/hr, in 2021 it increased to $13.50/hr, in 2022 it increased to $14.25/hr, and in 2023 it increased to $15.00/hr. This represents a 17.6% increase over 3 years. The total salary expenses in the recreation revolving account have increased by 55%, while the total salary expenses in the sailing revolving account have increased by 126%.
The proposed increase to the Resident Parking Sticker doesn’t account for the total increase in expenses however it would help reduce the reliance on the General Fund to cover the difference.
Below is a list of the fees that the Board is suggesting be increased and also the fee schedule from fiscal year 2024.
If you wish to submit questions or comments regarding the fee schedule and the changes please email Kristin Taylor at ktaylor@nahant.org. by August 16, 2024.
