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Planning commissioner urges review of developer fees, worries about burden on residents
Summary
Art O'Leary, a planning commissioner and former budget committee member, testified during the master fee schedule hearing that inflation-indexed fee increases may not ensure developers pay their fair share of infrastructure costs; staff said SDCs were recently revised and the methodology allocates costs between growth and existing residents.
During the public hearing on the master fee schedule, Art O'Leary identified himself as a planning commissioner and raised concerns about the city's approach to developer contributions and system development charges (SDCs).
O'Leary asked whether CPI-based annual increases to fees and the current SDC structure would "actually cover [developers'] portion of the impact to the infrastructure" or leave existing ratepayers to shoulder more of those costs. He said the city has a history, in his view, of developers underpaying and asked staff to confirm that new development would not shift costs onto residents.
A staff member responded that water and wastewater SDCs were recently increased as part of an updated capital improvement plan and that the SDC methodology specifically calculates the share of project costs attributable to new development versus existing maintenance. "Those increases to water and wastewater SDCs were specific to the revised capital improvement plan," staff said, and noted the city will continue to review how to deploy SDC receipts (for example, early debt retirement or funding projects directly).
Councilors and staff discussed the timing and variability of SDC receipts, noting SDCs "ebb and flow with construction and interest rates," and confirmed they would continue monitoring SDC revenues as part of annual rate-setting work. The exchange ended without any change to the adopted fee resolution; the council approved the master fee schedule later in the meeting.
