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Council adopts updated sewer trunk and connection charges; developers to face a new per-acre trunk charge
Summary
After a consultant presentation, the council adopted changes to sewer-related fees that introduce a trunk-service area charge of roughly $6,000 per acre and update treatment-connection fees; the average single-family home will see roughly $1,000 higher connection costs under the proposal.
Consultants working with the city presented a utility study recommending updates to sanitary sewer charges to better align future development costs with who benefits from trunk-line construction.
John Peterson of Bolton & Menk presented the analysis: the cost to build future trunk sewer to serve the city's planned development areas was forecast at tens of millions over full build-out, and the study recommended allocating about 75% of that cost to development via a per-acre trunk (service-area) charge. The consultant recommended a trunk charge of about $6,010 per acre and updated the treatment connection charge to an estimated $6,006.45 per equivalent residential unit.
Ken and staff explained how the model treats higher-density development: the per-acre trunk charge is designed to be assessed at the planning stage, with final true-up at building permit time based on equivalent residential units for apartments or other non-single-family development. Peterson said that, under typical quarter-acre single-family lots, the combined effect of changes would increase sewer-related connection costs by roughly $1,000 per home.
Council discussed equity between current ratepayers and developers, timing of collection and the city's existing trunk fund (staff said roughly $2 million presently). After discussion, the council adopted Resolution 25-12-01-03 amending the 2025 official fee schedule to incorporate the updated connection and trunk charges (motion by Maggie Bass; second by Sean Ryan; passed 5-0).
