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billed for the contractor's services will serve to provide <br /> the short term justification necessary to deal with the <br /> requirements of the Spickerman decision. <br /> What .follows are some suggestions for additional costs <br /> that you may wish to consider immediately if you have the <br /> information, or that you may wish to gather information on <br /> for your long term reassessment of the costs of the <br /> program. <br /> 2.1 Actual individual costs. These a r e the costs <br /> actually incurred because of an individual abatement <br /> action. <br /> 2.1.1 Contractor's costs. This i s an <br /> undisputed cost of the process which you already know <br /> and need not be discussed further. <br /> 2.1.2 Actual costs to the City for each <br /> Abatement. These are the costs which you have based <br /> your average charge on. To be considered actual costs, <br /> you would have to document the actual time spent on each <br /> abatement. Since this is impractical, it makes sense to <br /> make an average charge out of this cost and treat it as <br /> an administrative charge. <br /> 2.2 Administrative charges. An administrative charge <br /> is a cost of the program as a whole which is prorated by <br /> the number of individuals served and then imposed as an <br /> additional charge. The abatement program has two types of <br /> administrative charges, those associated with actual <br /> abatement actions, which would be limited to the charges <br /> incurred after the City has notified a person to abate and <br /> the person has refused, and the overall costs which would <br /> include abatement actions and the entire process of <br /> discovery, notices and inspections to eliminate the <br /> nuisances. <br /> 2.2.1 Costs of abatement actions. While there <br /> is no clear identification of the reasons, it seems as <br /> if the original $75 figure was chosen to make the <br /> abatement process self- supporting. This would include <br /> charging for the cost of personnel involved in <br /> inspection (the charges you now intend to impose) and <br /> the amount of additional charges necessary to make those <br /> who pay also pay for those who do not. Another costs <br /> which could be included in this category might be the <br /> cost of obtaining a contractor. This figure may or may <br /> not equal the ten percent figure that Mr. Spickerman <br /> used. <br /> 3-- MEMORANDUM <br />