(a) Authorization to Charge Fees and Fines. The SFMTA shall charge reasonable fees for the cost to the SFMTA, including the cost of administrative enforcement and adjudication, of providing benefits or privileges, services or products, or licenses, permits, investigations, or inspections; or a fee for the entrance to or use of property or purchase, rental, or lease of its property. The SFMTA shall charge fines or penalties for violations of State or local law. Notwithstanding the procedures set forth in this Article 300, the SFMTA Board may modify the fees or fines by resolution at any time.
(b) Base Fees and Fines, Automatic Index.
(1) Base Fee or Fine. The base fee or fine to be charged and collected by the SFMTA shall be the fees and fines in effect as of March 19, 2024, effective for Fiscal Year 2023-2024, as provided in SFMTA Board Resolution 240319-028 Section 3; as amended April 16, 2024 in SFMTA Board Resolution 240416-043; and as further amended May 21, 2024 to establish fees for violations of Vehicle Code 22511.1 pursuant to Vehicle Code 42001.6, and to establish those fees as the base fee for purposes of enforcing Vehicle Code 22511.1 effective for fiscal year 2023-2024 as set forth in Section 3 of SFMTA Board Resolution No. ______ on file with the Secretary to the SFMTA Board.
(2) Annual Adjustment of Base Fees. Beginning with fiscal year 2024-2025, effective July 1 2024, the Base Fees shall be adjusted each year on July 1 using the Automatic Index in this subsection (b)(2) by the Director of Transportation or the Director’s designee, in consultation with the SFMTA Chief Financial Officer and without further action by the SFMTA Board, unless otherwise specified in Article 300 or Article 900. The Director of Transportation or the Director’s designee, in consultation with the SFMTA Chief Financial Officer, shall also be authorized to add to any fee or fine any additional penalty assessments or charges mandated by the State of California.
(A) The Automatic Index shall be calculated as follows: Automatic Index = [Bay Area Consumer Price Index for all Urban Consumers (CPI-U) ÷ 2] + [2-year Operating Budget Labor Cost Change ÷ 2]. The Bay Area CPI-U forecast used will be from the United States Department of Labor Bureau of Labor Statistics and Research and the Operating Budget Labor Cost Change shall be the San Francisco Controller’s projections as of April 1 of each year; and once calculated, the Automatic Index shall be rounded up to the nearest $1.00. Fees for subsequent years will be based on the original calculated rate prior to rounding.
(B) As part of the Two-year SFMTA Budget process, the Director of Transportation or Director’s designee, in consultation with the SFMTA Chief Financial Officer, shall:
(i) For certain fees subject to cost recovery, consider whether the current fees have produced or are projected to produce revenues sufficient to support the costs of providing the services for which the fees are assessed and that the fees will not produce revenue which is significantly more than the costs of providing the services for which the fees are assessed. If the Director of Transportation or the Director’s designee, in consultation with the SFMTA Chief Financial Officer, determines that application of the Automatic Index is not warranted for either of these reasons, the Director shall recommend a modification to the SFMTA Board as part of the Two-year SFMTA Budget; and
(ii) Re-evaluate during each Two-year SFMTA Budget process the adequacy of the Automatic Index in subsection (b)(2)(A) and propose any changes to the SFMTA Board.
(3) Publication. The SFTMA shall publish the base fees and fines, additional penalty assessments mandated by the State of California, and annual adjustments made using the Automatic Index in subsection (b)(2)(A) on its website as the “SFMTA Fee and Fine Schedule” and shall update it annually by June 1, with any changes effective July 1. The SFMTA shall indicate which fees and fines are not subject to the Automatic Index. The SFMTA shall also make the SFMTA Fee and Fine Schedule available upon request at the main office of the SFMTA. If the SFMTA Board adopts by resolution a new base fee, or modifies or deletes an existing base fee, the new or modified fee shall be included on the SFMTA Fee and Fine Schedule together with the applicable resolution number.
(c) Late Payment and Special Collection Penalties and Fees. Except as otherwise specified in this Code, the SFMTA may charge penalties and fees to persons to whom civil citations have been issued or to owners of cited vehicles for failure to either pay the citations or to contest the underlying citations by the due date affixed to the notice of violation. These fees include a DMV registration hold fee. The penalties and fees shall be published on the SFMTA Fee and Fine Schedule and adjusted by an Automatic Index under the provisions in subsection (b)(2).
(SFMTA Bd. Res. No. 08-151, 8/19/2008; SFMTA Bd. Res. No. 09-172, 9/15/2009; SFMTA Bd. Res. No. 11-060, Ad. 5/3/2011, Eff. 6/3/2011, Oper. 7/1/2011; SFMTA Bd. Res. No. 12-056, Ad. 4/17/2012, Oper. 7/1/2012; SFMTA Bd. Res. No. 14-061
, Ad. 4/15/2014, Eff. 5/16/2014, Oper. 7/1/2014; SFMTA Bd. Res. No. 16-042
, Ad. 4/5/2016, Eff. 5/6/2016, Oper. 7/1/2016; SFMTA Bd. Res. No. 180403-057, Ad. 4/3/2018, Eff. 5/4/2018, Oper. 7/1/2018; SFMTA Bd. Res. No. 180515-079, Ad. 5/15/2018, Eff. 6/15/2018, Oper. 7/1/2018; SFMTA Bd. Res. No. 200421-043, Ad. 4/21/2020, Eff. 5/22/2020, Oper. 7/1/2020*; SFMTA Bd. Res. No. 200630-061, Ad. 6/30/2020, Eff. 7/31/2020, Oper. 8/1/2020 and 1/4/2021; SFMTA Bd. Res. No. 220419-036, Ad. 4/19/2022, Eff. 5/20/2022; SFMTA Bd. Res. No. 240319-028, Ad. 3/19/2024, Eff. 4/19/2024; SFMTA Bd. Res. No. 240416-043, Ad. 4/16/2024, Eff. 5/17/2024; SFMTA Bd. Res. No. 240521-052, Ad. 5/21/2024, Eff. 6/21/2024)
*Editor’s Note:
The operative date of the amendments adopted by Res. No. 200421-043 was altered by Section 2 of Res. No. 200630-061