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DATE: 07/15/02 |
SUBJECT: FINAL READING
ORDINANCE NO. 2002-O-153 Amending the Laredo Code of Ordinances, Chapter 2,
Administration, Article I, In General, Section 2-3. Fees for City Services,
Subsection (b) increasing the fee for
certified birth certificates from $11.00 to $13.00 to include an
administrative fee; providing for severability; and providing for an
effective date of publication. |
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INITIATED BY: STAFF SOURCE: Cynthia
Collazo
Hector F. Gonzalez Asst. City Manager Health
Director |
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PREVIOUS COUNCIL
ACTION: On July 1, 2002, Council held public hearing
introducing ordinance and instructed staff to proceed with final reading. |
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BACKGROUND: The City of Laredo Health Department’s Vital
Statistics Division maintains important and vital birth and death
registration in this district both for vital statistics and public health
data. During 2001, this division
registered 6,255 births and issued 18,861 certified birth certificates;
registered 1048 deaths and issued 5,964 certified death certificates. A fee of $11.00 is charged for each birth
certificate and of the $11.00, $1.80 is reimbursed to the Texas Comptrollers
Office. The balance remaining of
$9.20 generates revenues of $173,521 for the City of Laredo. The Director of the City of Laredo Health
Department is recommending that the fee of $11.00 for a certified birth
certificate be increased to $13.00 to include an administrative fee of
$2.00. Each certified birth
certificate takes a staff member approximately 10 minutes to produce. However, the counseling, verification, authentication
and duplication is a meticulous and time consuming effort that requires
extreme error-free detail. Hence, a
$2.00 increase in fee is appropriate at this time to assist with operational
costs and since no fee increase has been introduced since 1997. This increase will provide the city
additional revenues of $37,722 to enhance our public health and vital
statistics services. |
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FINANCIAL: The City of Laredo will
receive additional funds in the amount of $37,722 from the implementation of
the increased fee. |
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RECOMMENDATION: |
STAFF: Recommends that Council
approve ordinance. |
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ORDINANCE NO. 2002-O-153
AMENDING THE LAREDO CODE OF ORDINANCES, CHAPTER 2, ADMINISTRATION, ARTICLE I, IN GENERAL, SECTION 2-3. FEES FOR CITY SERVICES, SUBSECTION (B) INCREASING THE FEE FOR CERTIFIED BIRTH CERTIFICATES FROM $11.00 TO $13.00 TO INCLUDE A $2.00 ADMINISTRATIVE FEE; PROVIDING FOR SEVERABILITY; AND PROVIDING FOR AN EFFECTIVE DATE AND PUBLICATION.
WHEREAS, the City of Laredo Health Department’s Vital
Statistics Division maintains important and vital birth and death registration
in this district both for vital statistics and public health data; and
WHEREAS, during 2001, this division registered 6,255 births
and issued 18,861 certified birth certificates; registered 1048 deaths and
issued 5,964 certified death certificates; and
WHEREAS , a fee of $11.00 is charged for each birth
certificate and of the $11.00, $1.80 is reimbursed to the Texas Comptrollers
Office. The balance remaining of $9.20
generates revenues of $173,521 for the City of Laredo; and
WHEREAS, the Director of the City of Laredo Health Department is
recommending that the fee of $11.00 for a certified birth certificate be
increased to $13.00 to include an administrative fee of $2.00. Furthermore, each certified birth
certificate takes a staff member approximately 10 minutes to produce. However, the counseling, verification,
authentication and duplication is a meticulous and time consuming effort that
requires extreme error-free detail; and
WHEREAS, hence, a $2.00 increase in fee is appropriate at this time to
assist with operational costs and since no fee increase has been introduced
since1997. This increase will provide
the city additional revenues of $37,722 to enhance our public health and vital
statistics services; and
WHEREAS, a public hearing on this issue is being held pursuant to the
requirements of Section 6.10(B) of the City Charter; and
WHEREAS,
City Council finds that said amendment to the ordinance is necessary and
appropriate at this time.
NOW, THEREFORE BE IT ORDAINED BY THE CITY COUNCIL OF THE CITY OF LAREDO
THAT:
Section 1: Amendment
The City of Laredo Code of
Ordinances is amended as follows:
0Chapter 2
ADMINISTRATION
ARTICLE 1. IN GENERAL
(a)
Municipal
Court Documents.
(1)
Authorized.
A fee for providing copies of municipal court documents is hereby authorized to be collected by the municipal court.
(2)
Amount.
A two dollar ($2.00) fee will be charged for making copies of municipal court documents involved in any case.
(3)
Use
of fees collected.
All fees collected for making copies of municipal court documents shall be used exclusively for purchase of copy supplies and maintenance of the copy operation
(b)
Health
Department.
The Health Department is hereby authorized to charge the following fees
in relation to the Health Department’s function as local registrar of births
and deaths.
DESCRIPTION CHARGE
(1) Certified copy of birth certificate, any
size $ 11.00
13.00
a.
$11.00 for Certified copy of birth certificate
b.
$2.00 for administrative fee
(2) Certified copy of death certificate,
first copy $
9.00
(3) Certified copy of death certificate,
additional copy $
3.00
(4) Search of birth or death records for
genealogy $ 9.00
(5) Search of birth or death records, where
copy
is not found $
9.00
(6) Plastic Covers $
1.00
(7) Postage, certified mail - return receipt
requested
– U.S. $ PREVAILING RATE
(8)
Postage, certified mail – return receipt
Requested
– Outside of the U.S.
(9)
Certified
copy of birth certificate, any size,
non-Laredo/Webb County but
within the
State of Texas $ 12.83
(10) Copy of EMS Activity
Report Record $ 25.00
(c)
City Secretary’s Office.
The City Secretary’s Office is hereby authorized to charge the following fees in relation to the city secretary’s function as custodian of official records or proceedings of the City Council.
(1) City Charter $ 5.00
(2) Code of Ordinances (complete) $ 50.00
(3) Code of Ordinances (update only) $ 25.00
(4) Certification, other documents $
1.00
(5) Copies of documents (other governmental) $ 15.00
(6)
Verbatim transcript of minutes of any meetings;
Party
and the city secretary on an hourly basis.
(d)
Charges of Copies of Public Information, except as
provided elsewhere herein:
(1)
Definitions
(a) Actual labor charges shall mean the
personal costs associated with taking requests, locating documents and
reproducing the requested information and shall be computed by multiplying the
amounts of time actually spent on these activities times the salary rate of the
employee performing these activities.
(b)
Nonstandard-size
copy shall mean, if available, a copy of public information that is made
available to a requestor in any formal other than a standard-size paper
copy. Microfiche, microfilm, diskettes,
magnetic tapes, CD-ROM, and non-standard-size paper copies are examples of “non-standard-size
copies”.
(c) Programming shall mean
the process of producing a sequence of coded instructions that can be executed
by a computer.
(d) Readily available
information shall mean information that already exists in printed form, or
information that is stored electronically and is ready to be printed or copied
without requiring programming, or information that already exists on microfiche
or microfilm. Information that requires
a substantial amount of time to locate or prepare for release, being that it is
located more than one (1) building or a remote storage facility is not “readily
available information”.
(e) Standard-size copy shall
mean a printed impression on one (1) side of a piece of paper that measures up
to eight and one-half (8 ½) by fourteen (14) inches. Each side of a piece of paper on which an impression is made is
counted as a single copy. A piece of
paper that is printed on both sides is counted as two (2) copies.
(2) For open records requested by members of the
public, the following char- ges
shall be made:
(a) For fifty (50) pages or
less of readily available information, the charge shall be ten cents ($0.10) per page for standard-size copies
or the cost of non-standard-size copies (if applicable) shown in d. (d)
below.
(b) For more than fifty (50)
pages of readily available information, the charge shall be eighty-five cents
($0.85) for the first page and fifteen cents ($0.15) for each additional page
for standard-size copies or the cost of non-standard-size copies (if applicable)
shown in d. (d) below.
(c) For any quantity of
information which is not readily available, the actual charge shall be the
combined components of seventy-five cents ($0.75) for the first page and
fifteen cents ($0.15) for each additional page thereafter for standard-size
copies or the cost of non-standard-size copies (if applicable) shown in d. (d)
below plus actual labor costs incurred in providing the requested information.
(d) The charges for
non-standard-size copies (if available) are as follows:
(1)
Diskette ……………………………….. $1.00 each
(2)
VHS video cassette ………………….. $2.50 each
(3)
Audio cassette ……………………….. $1.00 each
(4)
Non-standard paper copy ………….. $0.50 each
The actual cost of postage and
shipping may be charges (if applicable) on any amount of copies requested.
(e) Fax charges may be charged (if
applicable) on any amount of copies requested as follows:
(1) Local ………………………………….. $0.10 per page
(2) Long distance, same area code …… $0.50 per page
(3) Long
distance, different area.
code
………………………………….. $1.00 per page
(f) The actual cost of
miscellaneous supplies, such as labels, boxes and other supplies used to
produce the requested information may be added to the total charge for public
information.
(3) An officer for public
information or the officer’s agent may require a deposit for payment of
anticipated costs for the preparation of a copy of public information if the
charge is estimated to exceed one-hundred dollars ($100.00).
(4) A charge may not be imposed for
making available for inspection and not a copy of any public information that
exists in a paper record except that if a requested page contains confidential
information that must be edited from the record before the information can be
made available. Then the charge of ten
cents ($0.10) per page for the cost of the copy from which the information must
be edited shall be made.
Section
2. Severability
If
any provision, section, subsection, sentence, clause or phrase of this
ordinance, or the application of same to any person or set of circumstances is
for any reason held to be unconstitutional, void, invalid or for any reason
unenforceable, the validity of the remaining portion of this ordinance or its
application to other person or sets of circumstances shall not be affected
thereby, it being the intent of the City Council of the City of Laredo in
adopting this ordinance that no portion hereof or provision or regulation
contained herein shall become inoperative or fail by reason of any
unconstitutionality, voidness or invalidity, and all provisions are declared
severable for that purpose.
Section
3. Effective Date
This ordinance shall become effective upon its passage and following the date of publication required pursuant to Section 2.09 of the City Charter.
PASSED BY THE
CITY COUNCIL AND APPROVED BY THE MAYOR
ON THIS
_________________ DAY OF ________________________, 2002.
_______________________
ELIZABETH G. FLORES
MAYOR
ATTEST:
_______________________
GUSTAVO
GUEVARA, JR.
APPROVED AS TO
FORM:
________________________
JAIME FLORES