Weekend Wrap: Council Raises User Fees, Highlights New Traffic Website; Latest City Population Data; PBF's Loss from Refinery Fire; New Retailer Coming to Town; May Day Rally
Also, county warns of hit to services from federal funding cuts; new merchant parking permit program launches; Diversity and Culture Commission holds first meeting
Welcome to the weekend. Here’s what’s on tap in today’s newsletter:
City Council raises user fees to bring them in line with cost of city services.
New Traffic and Transportation website draws rave reviews from council.
How much has the Feb. 1 refinery fire cost PBF Energy, and what is it saying about potential liabilities?
Did Martinez’s population go up or down in 2024?
The inaugural meeting of the Diversity and Cultural Commission
What big apparel retailer is poised to take over the old Rite Aid location?
Applications are now available for Downtown Merchant Parking Permit pilot program.
How might federal cost cutting impact the county budget and services?
Social media post of the week captures May Day rally
State Assemblywoman Anamarie Avila Farias, of Martinez, to co-chair new housing finance and affordability committee
The following items by freelance writer Tom Lochner are made possible through the support of paid subscribers and other donors to the newsletter. Please consider becoming a paid subscriber if not already to fund more local news coverage.
By Tom Lochner
The Martinez City Council last month unanimously approved an updated User Fee Schedule for the next two fiscal years, part of a long-running effort to bring fees into line with the real cost of city services. Fee increases for most services range from 6.2 to 9.5 percent.
The city's user fees have long lagged behind actual costs of services. The current update process began with a 2004-05 User Fee Study that identified significant subsidies in the Master User Fee Schedule, according to a staff report and PowerPoint presentation by City Manager Michael Chandler.
Less than full recovery of costs is tantamount to subsidization, according to the report, although the council, as a policy matter, can opt to subsidize certain types of costs —examples are certain recreation fees and some "green" permit fees.
The 2004-05 User Fee Study culminated in a three-year, phased fee increase plan, according to the staff report. But by the time the study was completed, the fees already were outdated, trailing actual costs by three years.
In 2008 and 2009, the City Council adopted resolutions to adjust fees annually, using a formula that blends the Consumer Price Index (“CPI”) and labor cost increases, the staff report continues. In the years following the 2008 and 2009 adjustments, most fee increases (other than recreation-related ones covering costs of facility upgrades) were paused due to the recession, and, some years later, the COVID pandemic. In between, the city in 2015 resumed blended rate adjustments, and in 2017, did a study to evaluate hourly rates being charged for administrative review, engineering and planning.
The city resumed updating fees in late 2022. The City Council adopted the current User Fee Schedule, except for recreation fees, in May 2023, effective July 2023, as "a more than five-year catch-up" blending the cumulative CPI change of 14.5 percent and budgeted labor increases from Fiscal Year 2018-19 through FY 2022-23. Those new fees were phased in over the following two fiscal years, with 75 percent of the increases in 2023-24 and 25 percent in 2024-25, according to the PowerPoint. Recreation fees were updated in March 2024.
The fee increases approved by the council on April 16 blend the CPI increase of 6.5 percent between 2022 and 2024 with the different labor cost percentage increases —12.5, 9.2, 7.2, 5.9 and 9.2 — in five distinct areas of service, resulting in the following blended increase schedule:
Administrative Review: 9.5 percent;
Building: 7.9 percent
Engineering: 6.9 percent
Planning : 6.2 percent
Police: 7.9 percent
In what the PowerPoint characterizes as a "phased approach," three-quarters, or 75 percent, of each of the rate increases will go into effect in the first year (Fiscal Year 2025-26), and the remaining 25 percent in the second year (FY 2026-27).
The hourly rate for the Administrative Review Fee will go from the current $250 per hour to $270 per hour in FY 2025-26 and $275 per hour in FY 2026-27. Building fees, from $180/h to $190/h to $195/h; engineering fees, from $235/h to $245/h to $250/h; and planning fees, from $225/h to $235/h to $240/h, according to the staff report. The report does not list police on the table with the four other categories of hourly fees.
The user fee updates approved by the council also include some additional adjustments in General Administrative fees; building, planning and engineering fees; community service and recreation fees; and general administrative fees. An Information Technology fee that currently stands at $55 per building, planning or engineering permit application will go to $65 and $75, respectively, in the next two fiscal years.
The staff report is at https://legistarweb-production.s3.amazonaws.com/uploads/attachment/pdf/3273262/Staff_Report_-_User_Fee_Schedule_Update.pdf
The updated User Fee Schedule is at SCHEDULE OF FEES FOR CITY SERVICES .
A comparative table of local fees in Martinez and five other cities – Benicia, Pinole, Pittsburg, Pleasant Hill and Walnut Creek – is at Exhibit_A_-_Comparative_Table_Local_Fees_2025.pdf .
New traffic and transportation website
A new City of Martinez Traffic and Transportation website, coupled with the addition of a Traffic Calming & Safety section in the City's Service Request form, was met with enthusiasm by the City Council on April 16, most exuberantly by Council Member Debbie McKillop, who said, "This has just revolutionized the interaction between the citizens and the city."
"This is a beautiful, beautiful thing that I'm looking at."
Said Council Member Jay Howard: "I'm getting rave reviews about this already."
The website is designed to reflect the priority the city places on the safety of neighborhood streets and the pedestrians, cyclists and motorists who use them. It counts on input from residents to improve neighborhood street safety with traffic-calming measures that are tailored to particular neighborhoods and traffic situations.
In November, the Council had asked the city to develop a dedicated Traffic and Transportation webpage to inform residents of updates in a timely manner and provide clarity on how to submit and track service requests. That led to the City Service Request Form being updated to include a Traffic Calming & Safety section that enables residents to communicate concerns about speeding, street signs, traffic signs, street parking, pavement striping, potholes and speed humps, among others, according to a staff report by Public Works Director Joe Enke and a PowerPoint presentation by Assistant Engineer Raed Al-Zaher.
Service requests go initially to the Public Works Department, where they undergo triage and get routed to other departments for follow-up when necessary.
The website is at www.cityofmartinez.org/trafficsafety
Key elements include an Interactive Status Map of Current & Completed Traffic Requests; a TSC Request list (the TSC, or Traffic Safety Committee, made up of representatives of the Engineering, Police and Planning Departments and Public Works Maintenance, meets monthly to deal with traffic concerns and improve traffic conditions). Other elements of the new webpage are new traffic law information; a link to the City Service Request form; information about local traffic programs, plans and policies, including a circulation map for the 2035 General Plan.
The city's Public Service Request portal is at https://www.cityofmartinez.org/departments/public-works/complaint-service-request ; photos can be attached to a service request.
Assistant City Manager Lauren Sugayan, said, "There's been a huge climb in service demand," noting that the number of service requests grew from 708 in 2023 to 960 in 2024.
The following items were produced by Craig Lazzeretti
Other news of note:
PBF Energy reported a first-quarter loss of $511 million, which it attributed in part to losses associated with the major Feb. 1 fire at its Martinez refinery. For the three months ended March 31, the company said it incurred operating expenses associated with the fire that decreased income from operations and net income by $78.1 million and $57.8 million, respectively. In a news release announcing its earnings, PBF said partial operations have been restored at the refinery, with plans to restore full operations by the end of the year. It expects the costs associated with fire-related repairs to be covered by its property insurance policy, minus its deductible and retentions totaling $30 million. “In April 2025, PBF received notice that its insurers agreed to pay an unallocated first installment of insurance proceeds of $280 million, $250 million net to PBF after deductibles and retention,” the news release states.
Referencing the fire in its quarterly report filed May 1, PBF Energy told investors: “At this time, the potential liabilities, including regulatory penalties, arising from the incident are unknown, and the full financial impact of this incident cannot reasonably be estimated.” This language is different from the boilerplate that PBF has used in shareholder filings to reference the potential legal liabilities from previous incidents, including the November 2022 spent catalyst release: “The Company presently believes the outcomes will not have a material impact on its financial position, results of operations, or cash flows.
Martinez’s population fell by an estimated 0.1%, or 54 residents, in 2024, to 36,817, according to the latest population figures from the state Department of Finance. Contra Costa County’s population overall was flat, with Oakley showing the largest percentage growth at 1.3% and Moraga seeing the biggest decline at 2%. California’s population overall grew by 0.3%.
The city’s new Diversity and Cultural Commission held its inaugural meeting on Thursday evening. Commission members are Loraine M. Brittingham, Luka Afonine, Vana Tran, Steeve Boulingui, Tracey M. Edwards Moore, Gwyneth Gilkey and Marcos Barajas. The commission voted Edwards Moore as chair and Gilkey as vice chair at Thursday’s meeting. Below is a photo of the new commissioners along with Mayor Brianne Zorn and City Council Member Satinder S. Malhi.
The old Rite Aid store in the Village Oaks (Lucky) shopping center on Arnold Drive is slated to become a Ross Dress for Less store, expected to open sometime this summer. A Zoning Administrator meeting on Thursday, May 8 at 4 p.m. at the City Council Chamber will review the requested signage for the store. More information is available at the following link: https://legistarweb-production.s3.amazonaws.com/uploads/attachment/pdf/3302738/Exhibit_C_-_Project_Plans-combined__1_.pdf
Applications are available online for the Downtown Merchant Parking Permit pilot program recently approved by the City Council. Permits cost $360 per year or $180 for six months, and are available to downtown merchants and their employees, as well as county library employees working downtown. Merchants must maintain a valid city business license, unless exempt, and provide certification verifying eligibility and vehicle information. Find more information at https://www.cityofmartinez.org/departments/police/parking-enforcement/merchant-parking-permit
State Assemblywoman Anamarie Avila Farias, of Martinez, has been appointed by Assembly Speaker Robert Rivas to co-chair the newly created Select Committee on Housing Finance and Affordability, her office announced. Her co-chair is John Harabedian of Pasadena. “Our committee will be laser-focused on high-impact strategies that work for working families,” Avila Farias said in the announcement. “This effort is part of a broader, coordinated push by Speaker Rivas and the Assembly to tackle the key drivers of California's cost-of-living crisis, alongside new initiatives to expand child care access, strengthen food assistance, and ensure a more affordable future for all.”
Making the national local…
The Contra Costa County Board of Supervisors held a special two-day meeting this week to discuss its proposed Fiscal Year 2025-26 budget for county departments and special districts. While supervisors were presented with a balanced budget totaling $7.131 billion, County Administrator Monica Nino wrote the following in her budget letter to the supervisors:
… the coming fiscal year presents extraordinary external policy and budgetary uncertainty due to potential federal and state changes. On March 14, 2025, the United States Congress passed a Continuing Resolution generally maintaining stable funding levels for federally funded programs through September 2025. Unlike a traditional appropriations bill, which includes line-by-line specificity for federal spending, H.R. 1968 appropriates funds across large categories, potentially leaving more discretion for the federal administration to choose how funds are used in the near term, including how its funding streams and programs are structured for state and local governments. The new federal administration is quickly reshaping government services and the economy: restructuring agencies, ending programs, shifting policies, and downsizing staff — some of which is being challenged in courts and may take time to fully resolve. Larger potential impacts loom for the County during the next fiscal year, as the federal administration and Congress have signaled their intent to make deep cuts to social safety net programs, and the state adjusts for its own current year Medi-Cal related deficits in the FY25-26 May Revision to the Governor's Budget.
Nino went on to note the following “potential pressures” to the county’s recommended spending plan.
Tariff-related impacts on the economy and federal and state revenues
Unanticipated impacts of other federal and state policy and budgetary changes
Slower local revenue growth, and
Increasing operating costs arising from inflation, labor negotiations, insurance, etc.
In its weekly newsletter, the office of county Supervisor Shanelle Scales-Preston said that during the budget discussions, the supervisor “highlighted the need for policies to address the impact of federal and state funding cuts, urging the Board to remain focused on closing service gaps in under-resourced communities.”
The newsletter also noted the following key budget allocations directed by the board:
$5 million in one-time funding for the Services and Access for Everyone (SAFE) Center in Concord — a centralized hub designed to support immigrant and mixed-status families.
$2.3 million in ongoing Measure X cost-of-living adjustments (COLAs)
$2.3 million in one-time funding for new positions at Stand Together Contra Costa
$375,000 in one-time funding for refugee resettlement services, in response to federal funding cuts
$310,620 in ongoing funding for forensic social workers in the Public Defender’s Office
$100,000 in one-time funding for a health care literacy pilot in East Contra Costa
Social media post of the week
Martinez was among the sites of May Day rallies held across the country on Thursday in opposition to Trump administration policies. Organizers said that over 800 people attended the Martinez rally, which included a march from the new civic center plaza to the county courthouse and speeches by labor, political and community leaders.
