Brief

The Board of Public Works initiated a study and proposed adjustments to Los Angeles permit fees. The file moved through the Public Works Committee, which approved it as amended in June, then proceeded to the Budget and Finance Committee for fiscal review. The City Administrative Officer submitted supplemental analysis in August. Council voted 14-0-1 in favor on September 16, 2026, and Council action was finalized on September 18, 2026.

Full summary

The Board of Public Works initiated this file in March 2026 to raise and restructure permit fees charged by the Bureau of Street Services Investigation and Enforcement Division — the unit that oversees commercial use of the public right-of-way. The fees at issue cover permits for building materials staging, oversize and overweight vehicle loads, special events, haul routes, and water discharge. Together those five permit categories account for more than 95 percent of the division's permit revenue. Under the old fee structure, the General Fund was subsidizing the cost of administering these permits; the proposed adjustments were designed to achieve full cost recovery. The Board of Public Works and the City Administrative Officer both concluded that the revised fees comply with state law, cover actual administrative and operational costs without exceeding them, and apply primarily to commercially driven activities rather than to individual residents. The new structure would also include an annual inflation adjustment tied to the Consumer Price Index for Urban Consumers published by the Bureau of Labor Statistics for the Los Angeles area, so fees would not fall behind costs over time. Projected annual permit revenue rises from roughly $2.3 million to roughly $5.0 million — an estimated $2.8 million increase to the General Fund — though actual receipts in fiscal year 2026-27 will fall short of that figure because the new fees will not be in effect for the full year. The 2026-27 city budget already assumed $2.8 million in additional General Fund revenues from these increases. The file was referred jointly to the Public Works Committee and the Budget and Finance Committee. The Public Works Committee approved the proposal as amended in June 2026 and transmitted it to the Budget and Finance Committee, which it later waived further consideration of. The City Administrative Officer submitted supplemental analysis in August 2026. At its September 1 meeting, the Budget and Finance Committee — with members Blumenfield, Hutt, McOsker, and Hernandez voting yes and Yaroslavsky absent — approved the recommendations from both the Board of Public Works and the City Administrative Officer. Those recommendations directed the City Attorney to draft ordinances amending the relevant sections of the Los Angeles Municipal Code, including Sections 62.45, 62.141, 62.146, 41.20, 62.80, and 62.201, to codify the new fees and the annual CPI adjustment mechanism. The full Council voted 14-0-1 to adopt the package on September 16, 2026, and the action was finalized on September 18. The revised fee structure is now adopted city policy, with ordinance preparation the remaining step to formally amend the Municipal Code.

Activity (12)

• 2026-09-18 Council action final.
• 2026-09-11 City Clerk scheduled item for Council on September 16, 2026.
• 2026-09-01 Budget and Finance Committee approved item(s) .
• 2026-08-28 Budget and Finance Committee scheduled item for committee meeting on September 1, 2026.
• 2026-08-26 Public Works Committee waived consideration of item .
• 2026-08-13 City Administrative Officer document(s) referred to Budget and Finance Committee; Public Works Committee.
• 2026-08-12 Document submitted by City Administrative Officer, dated August 12, 2026.
• 2026-06-10 Public Works Committee approved as amended .
• 2026-06-10 Public Works Committee transmitted Council File to Budget and Finance Committee.
• 2026-06-05 Public Works Committee scheduled item for committee meeting on June 10, 2026.
• 2026-03-26 Board of Public Works document(s) referred to Budget and Finance Committee; Public Works Committee.
• 2026-03-26 Document submitted by Board of Public Works, dated March 25, 2026.

Documents (7)

• 2026-09-18 Council Action · council_action
• 2026-09-16 Speaker Card(s) · speaker_card
• 2026-09-01 Report from Budget and Finance Committee · report
• 2026-08-12 Report from City Administrative Officer · report
• 2026-06-10 Communication from the Public Works Committee Clerk · communication
• 2026-06-10 Report from Public Works Committee · report
• 2026-03-25 Report from Board of Public Works · report

Council votes (1)

• 2026-09-16 Adopted — 14-0-1 · Regular