Denton advisory committee backs higher water and wastewater impact fees; council hearing set for March 25

The Capital Improvement Advisory Committee of Denton City on Feb. 12 recommended that the City Council adopt updated water and wastewater impact fees that staff said are needed to pay for a planned $582 million water capital improvement program and a $760 million wastewater program over the next 10 years.

Staff presented growth assumptions drawn from the Denton 2040 comprehensive plan, the city’s 2023 wastewater master plan and the 2024 water master plan, and explained how those assumptions feed the impact‑fee calculations. Kyle Pedigo, site engineer and utility manager, said the staff calculation produces a 10‑year maximum assessable fee of $11,046 for water and $14,551 for wastewater per base service unit, and that the wastewater fee increases are driven in part by reconstructing and expanding treatment capacity.

The advisory committee’s recommendation matters because impact fees fund the portion of new water and wastewater infrastructure that serves new development rather than existing customers. Kyle Pedigo told the committee the recommended update assumes a 100% cost‑of‑service recovery for the recoverable…