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Council schedules April study session on impact and user fees, flags ARPA and waste-refuse topics for spring

Commerce City Council · January 13, 2026

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Summary

City staff slated an April 13 study session to review impact fees and user fees, reminded council that additional analysis (roadway and water) is required, and scheduled a June 8 discussion on waste-refuse fee philosophy; staff also said ARPA-funded programs are expected to be expended by December and will require policy decisions for continuing services.

City Manager Rogers told the Council that staff plan to bring an impact- and user-fee study session on April 13 that will include methodology, comparative analysis with peer cities and recommended maximum supportable development fees. "Your user fees are the aspects of applications that are that have a fee associated with the time and the efforts operation that staff applies to the review," Rogers said, distinguishing user fees from impact fees, which require an ordinance.

Staff said the April presentation will require two additional analyses (roadway and water acquisition) before bringing fee recommendations to council. Rogers also warned council that adding multiple heavy topics to a single study session can make deliberations less productive and suggested a 3-item-per-session rule of thumb.

The council also agreed on other study-session scheduling: a developer roundtable on April 27, a long-term financial-plan and budget workshop on May 11 (including the first-quarter financial report), and a June 8 session to discuss waste/refuse fee philosophy. Rogers said staff will provide comparative context for other communities and can present fees controlled by outside entities (fire districts, metro districts) as background, but cannot change those outside fees.

On ARPA, Rogers reported staff's tracking of ARPA-funded programs and said the city expects to expend its current ARPA allocations by December; he presented program results for holiday outreach and fundraising to show how ARPA dollars have been used.

Next steps: Staff will circulate detailed materials ahead of the April 13 study session, including impact-fee methodology, comparative fee tables and a recommended schedule for ordinance drafting and stakeholder engagement.