COEUR d'ALENE - The Coeur d'Alene City Council will hold a public hearing Tuesday to discuss the possibility of increasing several fees for service.

The city's municipal service department wants to increase permit fees for everything from signs to daycare licenses, and also public record request fees.

The planning department wants to impose a $100 application fee for design reviews on commercial development projects, and the finance department wants to raise garbage collection fees.

"We held things pretty tight during the ugly recession years, but the costs have continued to escalate," said Troy Tymesen, city finance director.

Tymesen said the city hasn't increased garbage fees for the past three years, but the city's contract with Waste Management allows for that company to boost its rates every year to recoup labor and fuel costs.

While revenue from the city's single-stream recycling program has helped to offset those past increases, the city is at a point where the fees need to be increased to make the program pay for itself, Tymesen said. The recycling program brings in roughly $36,000 a year.

"We are proposing a 90 cent increase per month for most residential customers," he said, adding the fee structure varies depending on what type of garbage can a resident chooses.

Commercial rates are going up too, he said. The amount of the increase would depend on the type of commercial service that is needed.

The proposed increases are posted on the front page of the city's website at www.cdaid.org. under the heading "notice of public hearing."

Tymesen said other departments are trying to recoup their costs as well.

"We are trying to recover our costs in those departments," Tymesen explained. "It costs quite a bit to send a fireman out to inspect a daycare for instance."

Likewise, he said, the planning department spends quite a bit of time reviewing commercial projects and is proposing the $100 application fee to cover that.

"Other than water and wastewater fees, we haven't raised any of these fees for a while now," he said.

The water utility department will also correct a mistake the city council made when it rescinded its old water fee structure.

Tymesen said the council made an error in wording and instead of rescinding two-thirds of the water fee structure, they tossed the whole thing. So, that is being brought back to the council during the public hearing next week.

The hearing will be held in the Coeur d'Alene Public Library's Community Room during a regular city council meeting at 6 p.m. on Tuesday.