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Council adopts ordinance creating fixed transformer‑upgrade fees for service upgrades
Summary
Council approved ordinance establishing fixed fees for transformer upgrades tied to service increases and cleaned up related code; staff said fees aim to equitably spread replacement costs and speed permitting.
The Murray City Municipal Council voted unanimously Sept. 2 to adopt an ordinance amending two sections of the municipal code to add fixed transformer‑upgrade fees and update project improvement allowances. The council approved the ordinance after a public hearing and roll‑call vote.
Greg Malone, speaking for the power department, said the code changes create a simple, fixed fee structure for common service upgrades and would be integrated into the city's permitting software to speed processing. "We're asking to have a new fee...for upgrades up to 200‑amp services," Malone said, explaining the proposal calls for a $435 fee for overhead connections and $600 for underground connections. Malone said the fees would help distribute the cost of transformer replacements when a service change triggers a larger transformer need.
Why it matters: under current practice, a single service upgrade can require a transformer replacement that previously could fall largely on the customer requesting the upgrade. The new charge spreads some incremental cost among those requesting upgrades and aims to make permitting and cost allocation fairer and more consistent, Malone said. He gave an example: replacing a 15 kVA overhead transformer with a 25 kVA unit can cost $2,240; the new fee is intended to offset a share of such replacement costs.
Public comment: the council opened the public hearing and received no public remarks. Council comments attributed recent upgrade demand to factors such as electric‑vehicle chargers and recreational vehicles; the power department said it is seeing an increase in service‑upgrade requests but could not quantify the cause.
Vote and next steps: a councilmember moved to approve the ordinance and another seconded; Brooke called the roll and Mr. Hawk, Ms. Cotter, Mr. Goodman and Ms. Turner each voted aye. The ordinance passed unanimously. Staff will add the fee schedule to the permitting software and begin charging the fixed fees for qualifying service upgrades.
Malone said the department maintains transformer inventory and plans procurement schedules with the new demand in mind; he warned that transformer lead times and costs are rising and that inventory planning will continue to be necessary.
