Tuesday, April 30, 2024
Granbury city officials haven’t increased water and wastewater impact fees in 15 years, even though state law recommends a review every five years.
Developers probably appreciated that, but a day of reckoning appears to be coming.
The current City Council is now faced with needing to play catch-up if the city is going to accommodate future growth.
An impact fee is a one-time payment that mitigates the effects of new development on the city’s infrastructure. The city’s impact fees haven’t changed since 2003.
It is likely that the council will vote to implement substantial increases, phasing them in over a 3-year period.
Mayor Pro Tem Tony Mobly said he has already heard from some developers who are unhappy about that proposed plan.
The council decided last week to hold a public hearing on the impact fees during its regular meeting on Tuesday, Jan. 15. It will also consider a capital improvement plan and amending land use assumptions.
Currently the combined impact fee for a 3/4-inch meter is $1,681 – $757 for the water impact fee, and $924 for the wastewater impact fee.
If the new pricing structure is approved, the combined total for that same size meter would be $4,000 in Year 1, $6,000 in Year 2 and $7,599 in Year 3.
Similar structured increases would be imposed for meters that are 1, 1.5, 2, 3 and 4 inches.
The maximum fee combo – for a 4-inch meter in Year 3 – would total $126,682. Right now the combined total impact fee for a 4-inch meter is $31,185.
GROWING DEMAND
Council member Trish Reiner said she understands the “resistance,” but said that the city’s population and service demands are growing.
“We have to be able to pace this somehow,” she said.
The current City Council and city manager are not responsible for the city going 15 years without an impact fee increase. The council has changed gradually over time, with a few elected officials serving several terms. City Manager Chris Coffman was hired a little more than 3 1/2 years ago.
Keith Kindle, chief operating officer at Enprotec/Hibbs & Todd, Inc. (eHT), told the council at its regular meeting last week that although the Texas Local Government Code recommends a review of impact fees every five years, it does not require city councils to do so.
“It’s good to do it every five years but councils can make a decision to not do anything,” he said.
The city hired eHT and Raftelis Financial Consultants to conduct a water and sewer impact fee study and to develop a comprehensive water and wastewater capital improvement plan for the city.
The city’s Capital Improvement Advisory Committee also was involved in the process. Its members were appointed by the council. The committee agreed with the methodology that was used by the firms to calculate the proposed maximum impact fees. However, the group recommended that the council stagger the increase over a 3-year period.
Mobly said that some developers have told him that they find the proposed increases “hard to swallow,” but he noted that the city has “not done anything for 15 years” to adjust the rates.
“It’s hard for us up here to justify this kind of increase, even over a three-year period,” he said from the dais.
Referring to fears that the hikes might “drive development away,” he said it is better to “stay ahead of this instead of trying to play catch-up.” Reiner told the HCN on Monday that she shares that view.
She said she “absolutely” feels that the City Council needs to follow the recommendation of the Local Government Code going forward.
“I think that we would be remiss if we didn’t,” she said.“Those recommendations are there for a reason.”
