12-1380 Establishing a Special Service Fee for Lien Searches

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ORDINANCE 12 -1380 AN ORDINANCE OF THE CITY OF CASSELBERRY, FLORIDA, ESTABLISHING A SPECIAL SERVICE FEE FOR OUSTANDING LIEN SEARCHES AND AUTHORIZING ASSESSEMENT OF THE SPECIAL SERVICE FEE BY THE CITY CLERK; PROVIDING FOR CONFLICTS, SEVERABILITY AND AN EFFECTIVE DATE. WHEREAS, the City Clerk's Office receives requests for outstanding lien searches in conjunction with real estate transactions on individual parcels both within and outside of the City boundaries to determine if City liens, special assessments, utility balances, code enforcement liens or fines, active or expired building permits, and any other fees or fines exist on certain parcels of real property; and WHEREAS, each individual outstanding lien search entails searching numerous electronic and manual records, providing a report describing the records found, if any, and transmittal of said report and necessary attachments to the requestor; and WHEREAS, staff time averages thirty minutes to one hour for each individual request requiring extensive use of clerical or supervisory assistance to fulfill each request; and WHEREAS, Florida Statute §166.201 authorizes a municipality to assess fees which are necessary for the conduct of municipal government; and WHEREAS, Florida Statute §119.07(4)(d) authorizes an agency to charge a special service fee, in addition to the actual cost of duplication, if the nature or volume of public records requested to be inspected or copied is such as to require extensive clerical or supervisory assistance by personnel of the agency involved. Such special service fee shall be reasonable and shall be based on the cost incurred for such extensive use of the labor cost of the personnel providing the service, that is actually incurred by the agency or attributable to the agency for the clerical and supervisory assistance required; and WHEREAS, the City Commission hereby finds that the special service fee for outstanding lien searches is reasonable and is based on the cost actually incurred by the city for such extensive use of staff and resources. NOW, THEREFORE, BE IT ENACTED BY THE COMMISSION OF THE CITY OF CASSELBERRY, FLORIDA, AS FOLLOWS: SECTION I. A Special Service Fee is hereby established as follows: A fee of $25.00 shall be charged per search request for each parcel of real property requiring a search of the City's official records and production of a City Lien Report, including but not limited to, identifying any outstanding liens, special assessments, utility balances, code enforcement liens or fines, active or expired building permits, and any other fees or fines that are reasonably ascertainable. The form of the report shall be in the manner