Advisory committee reviews city’s water and wastewater impact‑fee update; hearing set for July 28

Consultants advising the Capital Improvement Advisory Committee presented a statutory update to Louisville’s water and wastewater impact‑fee study and outlined next steps toward a city‑council public hearing on July 28.

Grant Raven, partner at New Gen Strategies and Solutions, opened the presentation with a summary of the Local Government Code 395 process that governs impact‑fee updates. Raven said the study uses a 10‑year planning horizon required by statute and that consultants must (1) set land‑use assumptions, (2) prepare a capital improvements plan (CIP) by a licensed engineer, then (3) calculate the portion of project costs attributable to growth. “The statute doesn’t let us look any further out than 10 years,” Raven said.

The study team — which also included engineers from Garver and STV — presented maps, project lists and cost breakout tables. Chris Leo of Garver described the water land‑use assumptions and a prioritized list of near‑term projects; he cited a slide showing roughly $122.8 million in recoverable capital projects used in the impact‑fee calculation. Ryan Owen of STV reviewed the wastewater master plan and explained the rationale for splitting the service area: a central basin west of SH 130 with more existing infrastructure, and eastern basins that will require more treatment and interceptor capacity.

Raven walked the committee through the fee math and the two statutory credit approaches. Under the revenue‑credit method, the city estimates how many new customers will connect over the next 10 years, calculates how much of the resulting rate revenue will pay debt service on the same growth‑related projects, and credits that amount against recoverable costs. Raven said the revenue‑credit method typically produces a higher maximum fee than simply cutting recoverable costs in half.

Using the team’s assumptions, Raven summarized the water calculation as about $188 million of recoverable costs, minus roughly $61 million in revenue credit, leaving about $127 million to allocate across projected new connections; those figures produced a maximum permissible fee of about $7,200 per living‑unit equivalent (LUE). For wastewater, the consultants presented differing results across service areas — area one showed a modeled maximum near $1,800 per LUE, while the eastern service area (with larger capital needs) produced higher figures. Presenters also said the study shows current water fees near $15,136 per LUE and noted the statute would allow a maximum up to about $16,565, but that city council retains discretion to adopt any fee at or below the calculated maximum.

Committee members asked several technical questions about project timing, how the percent of a project assigned to growth is determined, and whether growth in one service area affects costs in another; presenters said most 2025‑horizon projects are still in design and that the portion assigned to impact fees reflects the share of each project that serves customers expected to connect within 10 years.

Raven told the committee it has until five business days before the council’s public hearing to provide written comments. The consultants said they had provided a schedule compliant with the statute and noted recent legislative changes had added new procedural requirements to the update process.

The advisory committee took one procedural vote at the start of the meeting to approve the April 6 meeting minutes (Item 3A, 2026‑0487); the transcript records a motion, a second and the chair stating the motion passed. The meeting adjourned at about 6:48 p.m.

Next steps: the committee may submit written comments on the land‑use assumptions, CIP and impact‑fee calculations, and the city council will hold the public hearing and consider adoption.