The City of Phoenix, Arizona retained MuniFinancial to conduct a two-phase project to review the Special Revenue Fund for the City's Development Services Department and review the Department's current fee schedule. In the late 1980's, faced with unprecedented growth, the City created the Development Services Department as the central point for services supporting development plan review, permitting, and building inspection. As one of the largest organizations of its kind in the nation, DSD is taking steps to strategically manage its Special Revenue Fund and to determine its potential to fund a new building to house DSD functions.
Our fund analysis summarizes a comprehensive review and study completed for DSD to determine the appropriate fund balance under certain future conditions. The primary objective was to analyze the fund balance to estimate its sensitivity to reductions in DSD revenues from fees. Secondarily, the analysis was designed to determine whether and to what extent the fund can be used to help fund or support debt issued to fund a new DSD office building within the City.
For the DSD fee schedule review, the objectives were 1) to identify and select a sample of current fees to provide the City with a "snapshot" of how the current fee methodologies compare to other jurisdictions, and 2) to identify and provide the most commonly used methods for calculating fees implemented by other jurisdictions. |
