As an astute governmental finance professional, you already know the impact on the Fully Burdened Hourly Rate (FBHR) caused by salary and...

Your public agency is experiencing development, so, to get out in front of it: 1. You have a development impact fee calculation and...

So, I can crunch numbers all night…and make it all right. Yeah, video conferencing has become a part of my workplace, and in my opinion,...

If you are attending the CSMFO Conference in Sacramento next week, please stop by Booth 200 and say Hi. And if you are coming on Tuesday,...

Can Development Impact Fees (DIFs) cover operational costs? This question eventually comes up in every DIF meeting I have ever attended...

On September 8th of this year, I had the opportunity to attend the League of California Cities annual conference as a speaker. I’m kind...

So, you’ve just spent the last number of months developing a Cost of Services Study with recommendations to update your fees, and now...

How a review of basic economics and psychology can help us solve the "water crisis."

The California Public Records Act (PRA), all the supplementary legislation, and numerous court decisions has made it clear and specific...

2022 brought into law a new effort to standardize Development Impact Fees with the passage of AB 602, which, among other things, requires...

As a fee consultant, the question that I get asked most often is, “How often should we be updating our fees?” Once I dispose of the...

“Yes, Virginia, It Does Matter Whose Ox is Gored.” I’m sincerely interested in promoting civil society. As a preface to this article, I...

If you are attending the CSMFO Conference in San Diego next week, please stop by Booth 313 and say Hi. And if you are coming on Tuesday,...

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...

I remember enjoying the early Tom Clancy novels. In 1994, I heard that his latest novel, Debt of Honor, involved a commercial airliner...

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

I’m going to keep this short, but I think it’s powerful. It’s about what happens to your saved money over time. I was recently contacted...

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...

I always give 100% at work; 10% on Monday, another 20% on Tuesday, 40% on Wednesday, almost done with another 10% on Thursday, and the...