Agencies that rely on fee revenue may experience fluctuations due to economic conditions, legislation that expands programs or increases services (and is silent with regard to the authority to collect or expend fees), or other reasons beyond their control. A fee study is necessary to first determine whether a fee adjustment is necessary to perform the required level of service. If an adjustment is necessary, a fee study will calculate how much of a fee adjustment will be needed to meet program requirements.
The goal of a fee study is to determine the appropriate fee levels for the recovery of the costs to the organization at a specified level of service associated with the fees. During a fee study we gather financial data, employee workload data and data on the number of fees collected (e.g. number of license application and renewals) and combine them together to help determine fair fee amounts that are commensurate with employee workload and result in fee levels that achieve the clients desired financial state.