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Sewer fee and lagoon-capacity dispute prompts staff to recheck engineering analysis
Summary
Consultant proposed a sewer impact fee of about $13,003 tied to a planned 25-acre lagoon expansion; residents and council members disputed the finding that lagoons are at capacity and asked staff to re-check Jones & DeMille's calculations before further action.
At Fountain Green’s public hearing on impact fees, EFG Consulting presented sanitary-sewer findings that rely on a planned lagoon expansion and an assumed municipal share of project costs. Consultant Cody Dieter said the lagoon expansion (25 acres) was estimated at $1,500,000 to the city under a 75% grant assumption and that dividing that share by the projected 118 new connections produced a sewer impact fee of about $13,002.86 per equivalent residential connection.
Local dispute over capacity: Several residents and council members challenged the consultant’s statement that the lagoon system has no excess capacity. Speakers recalled prior statements about the lagoons being under capacity or affected by leaching and noted former plant managers had different assessments. One audience member urged staff to obtain loading-rate data from operations staff to compare with Jones & DeMille’s analysis.
Council direction and follow-up: The council asked staff (Carrie and Kurt) to gather operational loading rates and to have Jones & DeMille revisit their calculations if needed. Multiple speakers recommended validating the engineering numbers rather than immediately commissioning a second full study.
Funding and cost-allocation notes: Dieter said the analysis assumes a total project cost of $6,270,000 with 75% grant funding; under that assumption the city's share is estimated at $1,500,000. Dieter also noted some sewer rehabilitation costs (for example, a screening device) would be borne in part by current users rather than new connections, and said a separate sewer-rate analysis would be required to estimate rate impacts for current customers.
Next step: Staff agreed to review the lagoon capacity calculations and provide the council with locally measured loading-rate data and comparisons to the consultant’s assumptions before the council moves to adopt any sewer-related impact fee ordinance.
