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HomeMy WebLinkAboutImpact Review Notes from Meetings through 2-13-2014Impact Review Notes from Meetings: 11/14/2014: Those attending: Richard Horner, Matthew Nielson, Ted Hill, Judy Hobbs, Bart Stephens, Jared Kay, Wayne Clark, and Troy Kartchner (via phone) We reviewed the summary of all of the fees that were approved effective 8/1/2009. On the hookup fees, it was mentioned that we bill to peak capacity. We discussed that there are currently no automatic annual increases built into the impact fees and that they are only changed every 5 years. Many in the group believed that an automatic adjustment to the fees each year, which could be based on a construction index, should be considered as an option and built into the fees. One concern raised by some of the contractors with an automatic adjustment is that when rates change so often, it is difficult to bid jobs. The group mentioned that this could be resolved by providing better education to the contractors on the rates and notifying them of changes that may occur with enough advance notice. It was suggested that if we did an automatic adjustment each year, that it occur on January 1st and that notice of the new fees should be far in advance of January 1st. One advantage of the automatic adjustments based on a construction index is that do not have to play catchup after 5 years, and the increases may not have to be so drastic, plus you are collecting the fees based on the current costs if you match it to an index in any given year. The Committee asked that Richard Horner provide them with comparables of the impact fees currently being charged by other cities. Troy Kartchner mentioned that he may be able to get some of those numbers for us also. _____________________________________________________________________________________ 01/16/2014: Those attending: Richard Horner, Matthew Nielson, Judy Hobbs, Richie Webb, and Wayne Clark. We reviewed the summary of all of the fees that were approved effective 8/1/2009 as shown below: / We discussed each of the assumptions for Parks, Fire, and Police. I have attached each below with notes of what was discussed. / It was mentioned by Richard that the Fire will likely need another station within 10 years, in addition to the current remodel they are hoping to do on the station downtown. Richard stated that we currently do not collect enough to cover the joint fire equipment fund that we use to purchase new fire trucks. The Cities transfers $75,000/year into the joint fire equipment fund and the general fund has to pick up a substantial portion of that cost each year because we are collecting less than $40,000/year on average from impact fees. In addition to not meeting the needs for equipment, we are currently saving nothing from impact fees to help cover the future demand of buildings. Richard proposed that the fees be increased as shown above, which is a 26% increase. Even with the 26% increase, the Fire facilities will be severely underfunded in the future. / Like the fire, the Police Impact fees have not been sufficient to cover the impact in the past years. The balance of impact fees is currently zero because it has been used to help pay down the current Police building and the animal shelter building that was built about 6 years ago. We hope that the animal shelter building will be paid for within a few years. The General Fund has been making transfers each year if cash is available to help pay down the animal shelter building. We would like to start saving the impact fees from police to help fund the acquisition of land and the construction of a new police building in the future. The Committee suggested that the 1 Acre in the assumption above is likely not enough and that we may want to consider building where the land might be less expensive, rather than downtown. It was also mentioned that the cost per sq. ft. of $225 seemed a little high. Richie Webb mentioned that some of the nicer commercial that they have been involved with recently has been closer to $250, but this is for very high-end finishes. The increases shown above are for 23%.