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Ivins staff and consultants recommend nonresidential base plus volumetric sewer rate; impact-fee analysis postponed for more review
Summary
Consultants and staff presented sewer-rate options and recommended a nonresidential base rate combined with a volumetric charge after a usage threshold; council agreed to postpone the public hearing on the updated master plan, facilities plan and impact-fee analysis to allow staff and the city’s renewal-and-replacement analysis to mature.
Consultant Aaron Anderson and city staff briefed the Ivins City Council on June 5 about proposed sewer-rate structures and an updated impact-fee analysis. The presentation compared local approaches (Saint George, Washington City, Santa Clara, Ash Creek) and recommended a hybrid structure for Ivins: a nonresidential base rate plus a volumetric charge applied after an agreed monthly usage threshold (the consultant suggested 7,000 gallons per month measured using an average of winter months).
The consultant explained alternative models used in neighboring jurisdictions — for example, Saint George charges a residential base plus a volumetric rate and discounts for some nonresidential classes; Washington City uses equivalent residential connections (ERUs) tied to winter demand; Santa Clara charges by meter-size equivalency. Ivins staff and consultants said the recommended hybrid approach aligns with regional practices while accounting for commercial variability and fairness.
Staff also reported that internal work on a renewal-and-replacement fund spreadsheet by city staff finance/engineering reduced long-term replacement estimates compared with earlier consultant assumptions, which could affect fee levels. For that reason staff recommended postponing the public hearing and final action on the impact-fee facilities plan and impact-fee analysis to allow the renewal-and-replacement analysis to be completed and incorporated.
The council voted to continue the impact-fee hearing to a later date and to schedule a work meeting to review the renewal-and-replacement findings and fee implications in more detail.
