Boerne committee told state law, rising CIP costs require early impact-fee review

The City of Boerne Impact Fee Advisory Committee met (date not specified) and heard a status report from staff member Andrew Wilkinson on impact-fee collections, recent state law changes including SB 14, and a recommendation to begin a land-use and capital-improvement-plan review now because project costs have risen.

Wilkinson told the committee that impact fees are charged to recover infrastructure investment tied to new development and are authorized under the Local Government Code (chapter 395 as cited in the meeting). "Impact fees are assessed at the time of planning," he said, and noted that the fees are typically collected at utility application and held in separate interest-bearing water and wastewater accounts.

The presentation reviewed the city's current ordinance (adopted in May 2023) that set a combined maximum fee of $7,629 per 1 LUE (equivalent to a 5/8-inch meter). Wilkinson said collections have increased since May, with total impact-fee collections rising to $4,000,145.09, an increase of about $2 million since the last meeting. He described ongoing and planned CIP work that will be funded by those accounts, including a water-treatment-plant expansion (pilot study complete, design expected this…