Council debates large increases to water and sewer connection fees ahead of public notice

Council spent extensive time on proposed changes to the fee schedule, with several councilmembers proposing large increases to water and sewer connection fees to help fund new system costs. Council Member Todd Thomas and others proposed raising residential connection fees to better reflect replacement costs and to ensure new development helps pay for new infrastructure; Thomas said he suggested raising the residential water connection to about $10,000 and doubling several sewer connection fees.

Brent Dodge argued for still higher connection fees on the grounds of replacement value, noting an illustrative calculation that dividing a $100,000,000 replacement by 2,500 users yields about $40,000 per connection. "Simple math would tell us that, a connection fee is worth nothing less than $40,000," Dodge said, while other members pushed for more moderate increases and emphasized the need for engineering support. Legal and finance staff advised the council to secure updated engineering studies (Keller and Associates or an updated analysis) to justify fee amounts to developers and the public. The council agreed on a procedural approach: publish a reasonable ceiling for public notice (members discussed $9,000 and $13,000 figures for certain commercial categories and debated publishing a proposed sewer increase from $65 to $90 or $95 per month) and reserve detailed fee-setting decisions for the December public hearing after staff provides supporting analysis.

Next steps: staff will prepare public-notice materials reflecting the council’s direction, secure engineering backup and present a clearer cost-and-reserve breakdown for the December public hearing so the public can review the rationale behind proposed fee changes.