New Search
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 />