COEUR d'ALENE - A public hearing on numerous fee increases is scheduled at tonight's City Council meeting.

Fee hikes, mostly small ones, are being proposed in different departments including building, finance, legal, library, municipal services parks and recreation, police, planning and water.

The increases are needed for a variety of reasons, according to the city report.

Parks and Recreation, for example, has experienced an increase in costs related to staffing, equipment repair/maintenance and recreational program T-shirt costs.

The Legal Department "would like to include fees related to administrative and appeal hearings to cover staff costs."

The Coeur d'Alene Public Library would like to charge nonresidents for a library card.

Library staff reviewed several area libraries and recommend a fee based on an average property tax for library services, which comes out to $30 a year.

The Planning Department is seeking to increase the cost of project reviews by the Design Review Commission to $700 from $400, and to $500 from $200 to appeal a commission decision.

Planning is also proposing to increase short-term rental permits "to cover the cost associated with the use of a host compliance agency."

They would rise to $369.09 from $285 for the first year, and to $180.19 from $96 for annual renewals.

The Police Department is seeking to increase the cost of providing security and traffic control to $72 an hour from $60 for patrol officers; $82 from $70 for sergeants and $95 from $80 for lieutenants.

Per Idaho code, new fees and increases in excess of 5% must be approved by a resolution and a public hearing.

Tonight's City Council meeting is scheduled to begin at 6 in the Library Community Room.

Also at tonight's meeting, Streets and Engineering Department Director Todd Feusier will give an outline of the city's 2022-2023 snow plan.

Following last Wednesday's storm that dumped a foot of snow on Coeur d'Alene, many residents were upset by berms left in driveways by snow plow operators.

Feusier told The Press the wet, heavy snow created challenges.

The snow plan states, in part: "Snow gates may not be practical for extremely heavy or deep snow events. Therefore, after careful consideration, the Streets & Engineering Director or designee is authorized to curtail use of snow gates under these circumstances. Citizens should always be prepared to clear driveways in these cases. In many instances, snow gates cannot stop snow flow to both driveways and mailboxes - the snow must go somewhere. Citizens should plan on removing snow from mailboxes."