Punta Gorda consultants recommend up to 47% rise in water and sewer impact fees, citing near‑term capital needs

Consultants presenting a demonstrated‑needs study told Punta Gorda City Council members and the Utility Advisory Board on the evening of the public workshop that rising capital costs and near‑term expansion needs support raising water and sewer impact fees.

Danica Katz of Stantec presented the study and the three “extraordinary circumstances” that the firm says justify an increase under the Florida Impact Fee Act. "Impact fees ... are intended to be one time charges to recover the cost of capacity to serve new growth and development," Katz said during the presentation.

The study says water and sewer expansion costs have more than doubled since the last study in 2020 and lists several near‑term projects, including a reverse osmosis (RO) plant expansion and a well‑field project that would add about 4 million gallons of capacity. Stantec reported the RO plant’s per‑gallon cost rose from about $10 per gallon‑per‑day in the 2020 study to about $14 per gallon‑per‑day in the current analysis, a roughly…