Fee Studies & Cost Allocation Plans

We provide sage analysis in the form of an Overhead Cost Allocation Plan, which distributes the general governmental and support services costs of a city, county or special district to the direct services and activities provided to the public. We prepare plans for local agencies that comply with federal regulations, known as Title 2 CFR Part 200 (formerly known as OMB A-87), for purposes of audit and/or reimbursement. In addition, these plans are used for optimal budgeting purposes and intended for use for many forms of cost recovery efforts.

Development Impact Fees (DIF) are a one-time fee imposed to generate funds for the new or expanded infrastructure required because of development, whether commercial or residential. They are not to be used for ongoing operations and maintenance needs. We help local governments to identify the areas where such fees are needed, discuss the policy aims, and develop the rigorous study to justify such fees.

A Fee Study identifies the full costs of service eligible for recovery from fees and translates those costs into a workable fee structure for various programs and/or services. The full costs of service are derived for each service or activity and, in most cases, is first expressed as a fully burdened hourly rate applicable to the time necessary to perform the service or activity. It is important to have a strong overall understanding of an agency’s cost structure before designing these fees, and then to have a dialogue about cost recovery policies for them. We guide public agencies through these processes with upfront discussions, in-depth analysis and recommendations.