Georgetown staff outline transportation impact fee update, seek council direction on collection rates and service areas

City of Georgetown staff and consultants briefed the city council on an update to the Transportation Impact Fee (TIF) study, saying the work will recalibrate fees to reflect a 10-year capital improvement plan and recent changes in construction costs.

The presentation, led by Matt Wagner of Engineering Services with consultant support from Ben (consultant) and staff member Nat, reviewed the legal basis (Texas Local Government Code, Chapter 395), the methodology for calculating maximum assessable fees, and several numerical results from the 2021 study that staff plan to recost and revalidate for the 2025 update.

The consultants described the calculation method: the numerator is the recoverable cost of projects in the 10-year CIP; the denominator is the projected growth expressed in service units (vehicle miles). They noted the city's 2021 study used a $246 million CIP numerator (costed at that time), roughly $123 million of which was considered within the five-year horizon, and that the city has collected about $994,000 to date under a phased collection policy. Staff said if Georgetown had collected the maximum assessable fees instead of the reduced collection rates, receipts to date would be roughly $4.2 million.

Consultants summarized current collection policies adopted in 2021: single-family collection rates are set at 50% of the maximum assessable fee in some service areas, multifamily at 75%, and nonresidential at lower percentages (commercial at 20% in some areas). They showed the city's adopted schedule escalates collection rates on March 1, 2026, and offered sample dollar figures: for example, a Georgetown single-family maximum in service area A is shown as $3,621 in the current calculation and would escalate to $5,428 on March 1, 2026 under the existing schedule. Council members asked how the schedule applies per dwelling unit and were reminded the fee is multiplied by vehicle miles (service units) and therefore varies by land use and trip length.

Staff explained statutory timing requirements: Chapter 395 requires a five-year update; staff said they aim to complete and adopt the update by Dec. 1 to remain under the prior rule set while a state Senate bill (noted by staff but not identified by number in the presentation) is changing aspects of Chapter 395 and carries a grace period. The team said the city has discretion in some ordinance-level settings, such as the point of assessment (the draft proposes continuing assessment at preliminary plat) and whether to maintain existing zero-fee service areas (the downtown and Lake Georgetown areas were set as no-fee in 2021 because they are largely built out or lack projects in the CIP).

Council members pressed staff on several policy choices: whether downtown should remain a no-fee service area given ongoing downtown growth; whether renovation or reuse that changes land use should trigger fees (staff said a change in land use that requires a building permit would be assessed); and whether different industrial uses (warehouse/distribution versus retail or manufacturing) should face different collection rates to reflect trip generation differences (consultants said trip-generation rates from ITE are used and that types of vehicles are not directly reflected in the standard trip-based methodology, but council could select different collection-rate breakouts for specific use types up to 100% of the maximum assessable fee).

Next steps staff outlined include recosting the CIP in current dollars, updating land-use assumptions from the 2023 Future Mobility Plan to identify the portion of growth in the next 10 years, and returning in August/September with recommendations on maximum assessable fees and proposed collection rates. Staff asked council for direction on whether to keep the downtown no-fee area, whether to keep assessment at preliminary plat, and whether to adjust the planned 2026 escalation of collection percentages.

Council members and staff also discussed operational details raised by applicants during the 2023'2024 grace period, including timing of fee assessment (staff said fees are assessed at preliminary plat and payable at building permit). No formal motions or votes were recorded during the workshop discussion.