Legislation stalls water development fee, water infrastructure improvement plan
At its Sept. 16 meeting, the Queen Creek Town Council voted to withdraw from consideration a water development fee and water infrastructure improvement plan. This decision was based on a budget bill signed by Governor Jan Brewer that restricts cities and towns from imposing new development fees or increasing development fees for two years and will cause the Town to postpone water system improvements or find alternative revenue sources.
The improvement plan was intended to forecast necessary public services and estimate infrastructure costs required to support new development. The development fee was proposed to capture the costs calculated on the improvement plan to expand the water distribution system and construct new treatment facilities. The estimated financial loss to the Town due the inability to capture this fee is estimated to be $1 million during the next two years.
Comments and questions may be directed to Wendy Kaserman.
Development fee information
Development fees are one time payments made to the Town at the time of building permit issuance that are used to pay for new growth’s share of capital costs. They are assessed on both residential and nonresidential growth. Development fees are used for parkland purchases and improvements, expansion of the Town sewer system, creation of the new library, construction of bridges and railroads within Town limits, construction of fire stations, as well as other capital needs identified in the Town’s five-year capital improvement plan.
The adopting ordinances for all seven development fees include a provision for annual inflationary adjustments to the fees.* A public notice was issued May 31, 2008 related to the latest adjustments.
The Wastewater, Town Facilities & Equipment, Public Safety, Parks, Recreation and Open Space, Library, and Transportation development fees, published in the Town's May 2007 development fee study, were automatically adjusted on July 1, 2008 using the Engineering News Record Construction Cost Index. These fees adjusted by a factor of 2.5 percent. The Town's Fire Development Fee Study was published in June 2006, and based upon this date, the inflationary adjustment for fire development fees was 5.7 percent.
On Sept. 4, 2009, Governor Brewer signed a series of budget bills which included HB 2008. This bill contains a provision restricting cities and towns from imposing new development fees or increasing existing development fees for 24 months.
For a list of current fees, visit the Development Services Building.
For more information about development fees, call 480-358-3003.