Consultant proposes $6,920 water and sewer impact fee for Melbourne; staff urges finding of 'extraordinary circumstances' to speed implementation

At a Melbourne City Council workshop, Trevor McCarthy, a manager with Reftellus, presented a water and wastewater impact fee study that recommends a combined fee of $6,920 per equivalent residential connection (ERC), consisting of $2,755 for water and $4,165 for wastewater. McCarthy said the fees are intended to make new development pay for growth‑related capital projects and debt service rather than shifting those costs to existing ratepayers.

"These are fees paid by new development, that create demand for water and wastewater system capacity," McCarthy said, and described the approach as "growth paying for growth." He told the council the proposed per‑ERC increase is $3,170 and noted that, on a typical Melbourne single‑family sale price of $375,000, the fee increase is under 1% of that amount.

City staff and the consultant asked the council to make a statutory finding of "extraordinary circumstances" to avoid a state‑required phase‑in for increases greater than 50% of the…