HUNTINGTON BEACH : Builder Fees Hiked for Library Project

A City Council majority this week hiked developer fees to help pay for the city’s library expansion, overriding some council members’ concerns that the city is taxing builders too heavily.

The library fee, which applies to large new developments as well as additions to homes, will be raised from 10 cents to 15 cents per square foot of construction.

City officials project the increase will boost city revenue by an average of $150,000 a year during the next decade. Over 20 years, the fee hike is expected to cover about one-third of the $8.47-million expansion of the Huntington Central Library.

Revenue to cover the rest of the cost will come from parking meters, room and equipment rentals and other fees charged at the library.

The expansion, planned to get under way by this fall, will include a new children’s wing, a theater-playhouse, additional meeting rooms and an improved computer and media center.

Councilmen Jack Kelly, Don MacAllister and Jim Silva were hesitant to approve the fee increase for the library improvements. Echoing concerns of the Huntington Beach Chamber of Commerce, the councilmen contended that the city should look elsewhere besides developers to pay for additional city services.

“Every time we turn around, we’re imposing some new dollar element on new construction,” Kelly said. “I’m voting in favor of this, but only because if we don’t, I’m afraid we’ll put ourselves further in debt.”

The council recently slashed $3.8 million to bridge the city’s budget deficit.

But the council majority, in backing the fee hike, noted that council members previously approved the library expansion, which is contingent upon increased user and development fees.

Councilman Earle Robitaille, who has allied himself with the council’s pro-development voices on many issues, tersely criticized his colleagues opposing the fee hike. He argued that cultural enrichment enhances the community as a whole, translating into increased profits for developers.

“I think anything you can do for the cultural community would do nothing but defer from (developers’) costs,” Robitaille said. “Developers will certainly benefit from this.”

The city’s library enrichment fee was last raised in 1983, when it was increased to 10 cents from 5 cents per square foot of residential construction. A 10-cent fee on commercial and industrial building was also established at that time.

The city has since collected between $70,000 and $424,000 each year in library fee revenue.