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Council reviews combined public-safety impact-fee schedule; staff proposes annual adjustment tied to study
Summary
City staff presented a consolidated public-safety impact fee that combines prior police and fire fees into a single schedule and recommended the fee be adjusted annually to reflect the impact-fee analysis rather than remain fixed at the historic 2018/2019 levels. The council asked staff to return with updated exhibits for the June 17 meeting.
City staff presented a consolidated public-safety impact-fee ordinance and supporting schedule that combines prior police and fire impact fees into a single public-safety fee and recommended making the fee effective July 1 and adjusting it annually based on the adopted impact-fee study.
Staff explained the consolidation replaces separate police and fire impact-fee impact-fee analyses and facilities plans with a single public-safety impact-fee analysis and an updated schedule that shows the gross fee and annual reductions (credits) that change as debt-service credits decline. Staff recommended including the full schedule in the consolidated fee schedule and implementing an annual automatic adjustment consistent with how the city recently adopted an annually adjusting water impact fee.
Susie Becker, a consultant with Zion Public Finance, explained the mechanics: the gross fee in the study is stable while annual decreases or increases in the charge often reflect changing credits tied to outstanding debt and debt-service periods — not an inflationary annual change to the gross calculation. Councilors raised inflation concerns; staff and the consultant said future fee studies could and should account for current construction and equipment costs but that the existing study’s annual schedule updates reflect credits and debt-service rather than pure inflation.
Councilors signaled support for including the schedule and implementing an annual adjustment process; staff said they would return in two weeks with the finalized ordinance and exhibit changes, and with additional detail on how the schedule will be updated in subsequent years. Councilors also asked for more frequent impact-fee studies to keep the fees current given recent construction- and equipment-cost changes.
Why this matters: Impact fees recover the cost of public-safety capacity needs associated with new development. Updating the fee schedule and committing to annual adjustments will change the per-unit fee charged to new development and can affect housing and development costs.
What’s next: Staff will return with a recommended ordinance amendment and the exhibit schedule for the council’s June 17 consideration and will outline plans for future studies of impact fees across other service areas (water, wastewater, parks).
