title
CC - CONSENT ITEM: Approval of a Professional Services Agreement with NBS to Conduct a Review of an Updated Fee Plan for the Parks, Recreation and Community Services Department and a Fee Study for the City’s Emergency Medical Services Program in an Amount Not-To-Exceed $44,000.
body
Meeting Date: October 13, 2025
Contact Person/Dept: Lisa Soghor/Finance Department
Phone Number: (310) 253-5865
Fiscal Impact: Yes [X] No [] General Fund: Yes [X] No []
Attachments: Yes [] No [X]
Public Notification: (Email) Meetings and Agendas - City Council (10/08/2025); (Email) Ongoing Topics - Fiscal and Budget Issues (10/08/2025)
Department Approval: Lisa Soghor, Chief Financial Officer (10/06/2025)
_____________________________________________________________________
RECOMMENDATION
Staff recommends the City Council approve a professional services agreement with NBS to conduct a review of the updated fee plan for the Parks, Recreation and Community Services Department (PRCS) and a fee study for the City’s Emergency Medical Services Program in an amount not-to-exceed $44,000.
BACKGROUND
On January 13, 2025, City Council held a public hearing and approved and adopted the Comprehensive Fee Schedule for Fiscal Year 2024-2025. It was the first time the City had conducted a comprehensive fee update since Fiscal Year 2006-2007. In order to complete the comprehensive update, the City hired NBS to study the City’s existing fees and analyze the staff time and other City resources required to provide the associated services. Staff was satisfied with fee study services that NBS provided.
During the course of the fee study, it was determined that, due to the nature of PRCS programming, a separate, more in-depth study process would be needed to analyze PRCS fees and cost recovery goals. As a result, the City’s existing PRCS fees were included in the Adopted Fee Schedule.
Since January 2025, the City Council has updated the fee schedule for Fiscal Year 2025-2026 to reflect changes in the Consumer Price Index, update cost-recovery percentages for certain traffic engineering fees and add fees that were inadvertently omitted.
DISCUSSION
PRCS Fee Study
Over the last year, PRCS staff has reviewed its programs and fees using the data NBS generated for the City’s comprehensive fee study and analyzed various policy considerations in order to craft a methodology by which to develop new PRCS fees. PRCS staff presented their proposed methodology to the City’s Finance Advisory Committee, the PRCS Commission and the Audit, Financial Planning and Budget Subcommittee and received feedback.
In order to move forward with finalizing the proposed methodology and updating the City’s PRCS fees, staff recommends that the City enter into an agreement with NBS to review the proposed methodology, prepare a comprehensive study of PRCS service costs and fees and work with the City to draft an updated PRCS fee schedule for Council consideration. NBS estimates that this work will cost approximately $14,000.
Emergency Medical Services Program Fee Study
During the Citywide fee study, it was identified that the City may not be recovering 100% of the City’s costs for providing Basic Support Services (BLS) and Advanced Life Support (ALS) emergency transportation. The Fire Department has historically charged the maximum allowable fees for ambulance transportation adopted by the County of Los Angeles under Los Angeles County Ordinance Chapter 7.16. While most cities align with the LA County rates, in an effort to increase cost recovery and reduce the City’s operating deficit, staff recommends that the City engage NBS to study its cost of operations vs cost recovery.
In addition, during the budget process for Fiscal Year 2025-2026, staff was asked to examine department expenditures and explore revenue generating ideas to address the City’s operating deficit. As part of this process, the Fire Department recommended that the City consider establishing a new fee for emergency medical services assessment. The Fire Department currently charges fees when it transports patients to the hospital. However, the Fire Department does not charge when it responds to calls and assesses patients, including using monitoring devices and providing minimum aid, and releases patients if they decide not to go to the hospital. The Fire Department estimates that they conduct an average of 1,900 of these “Treat but no Transport” services annually. Staff recommends the City engage NBS to examine the costs of providing “Treat but no Transport” services and develop a fee to off-set these service-delivery costs. NBS estimates that the fee study for the City’s Emergency Medical Services Program including the potential medical assessment fee will cost approximately $24,000.
Culver City Municipal Code Section 3.07.065.A exempts professional services from formal bid procedures, provided competitive quotes are obtained whenever practical, as determined by the City Manager. Soliciting additional quotes for the proposed fee studies will cause project delays and likely result in higher costs to the City as another firm would like need to allocate additional time and resources to review and revalidate the work NBS has already completed to date. Given NBS’ recent experience with the City’s comprehensive fee study fee and knowledge of the City’s service structure and costs, staff recommends that the City enter into a professional services agreement with NBS to conduct a fee study for the PRCS Department and the City’s Emergency Medical Services Program without soliciting competitive quotes.
NBS estimates that the cost to prepare both studies ($38,000) and make presentations to various governing bodies and the City Council ($6,000) will total $44,000.
FISCAL ANALYSIS
The Adopted Budget for Fiscal Year 2025-2026 does not include $44,000 for this proposed study. The funding for this agreement will come from the City’s Manager’s Appropriated Reserve which can be found in the General Government Section of the Budget Book, under Non-Departmental Account No. 10116100.910200 in the budget book on page 280. The funds will be transferred from the Appropriated Reserve for expenditure from Account No. 10114100.619800 (Finance Administration - Other Contractual Services).
It is anticipated that the proposed fee studies will enable the City to implement new and/or updated fees for PRCS and Emergency Medical Service which will improve the City’s cost-recovery by adjusting fees to off-set operating expenditures.
ATTACHMENTS
None.
MOTION
That the City Council:
1. Approve a professional services agreement with NBS to conduct a review of the updated fee plan for the Parks, Recreation and Community Services Department and a fee study of the City’s Emergency Medical Services Program;
2. Authorize the City Attorney to review/prepare the necessary documents; and
3. Authorize the City Manager to execute such documents on behalf of the City.