What is a user fee?

A user fee is one in which the applicant (personal, business, organization) receives a benefit that does not accrue to non-applicants. The underlying philosophy is that someone who receives a special service from which he/she will benefit (especially monetarily) should pay all, or a portion, the full cost of that service unless otherwise decided.

Are fee changes the result of a budget shortfall?

No. Coconino County evaluates the cost of all services, every other year, and uses that cost analysis to recommend fee increases and decreases. Our policy is to recommend regular changes to our fee schedule, in order to avoid large increases in any given year while maintaining our cost recovery percentages. This creates routing incremental fee changes that are easier to absorb than increases that are not done as frequently and are thus more significant. The cost of some fees increased since the last study, and others decreased due to technology and efficiencies in service delivery. Many fees are adopted at the full cost, with a sliding fee scale applied based on ability to pay. For fees that have a community benefit, the Board of Supervisors subsidizes a portion of the cost of the services with County tax dollars.

How much of the total County budget is supported by user fees?

In total about 10% of all County revenues come from charges for services, licenses, permits, fees, fines, or forfeits.