City Council Minutes 2019 11 25 - Laserfiche WebLink

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City Council Meeting Minutes November 25, 2019 Page 4 of 6 He reviewed how CBT costs had increased since 2013/14 affected by growth, competition, and infrastructure costs. In 2013, the city changed the tap fee form to allow people to understand all of the costs. It includes a separate tap fee for irrigation for multifamily and commercial. The current regulations are not perfectly clear on how infill projects pay. Councilmember Lipton asked how Storage Tek's taps would be credited for a new developer and they wouldn't be credited at today's value. Director Kowar stated people get credit for the volume of water so if they have a 1.5 inch tap and need a 2 inch they only pay the cost of the extra'/z inch. Councilmember Lipton would like that written into policy. Members discussed how irrigation taps are used and why it makes sense for commercial and multifamily to separate the indoor and outdoor use. Director Kowar added that in a drought year this allows the City to surcharge only outdoor use to encourage water savings. Director Kowar reviewed a comparison of tap fees to our neighbors. Mayor Pro Tem Maloney asked why some of our neighbors are not taking into consideration increasing costs as we are. Director Kowar stated each municipality does things differently, but he assumes they will need to catch up with everyone else on this. Councilmember Fahey asked when these prices go into effect and when are they charged to developers. Director Kowar stated everyone gets a three month warning on rate changes. The costs are assessed when they pull their building permits although someone can prepay if they want to. Councilmember Lipton stated with the lower land costs combined with water still makes it cheaper to build in communities further east. This is a balancing of policies regarding economic development and water costs. Mayor Stolzmann stated we are responding to increased costs; we are not increasing them by choice. Councilmember Lipton stated he thinks these increased costs might be an anomaly. He would like this fee set on an annual basis. Director Kowar stated staff monitors water all the time and react as we need to. We have not raised them since 2016 but the fee increase in the last six to nine months is driving this increase. Director Kowar noted the current policy is; Tap fees shall be based on and used for growth related capital expansion costs for water resources, water supply, water storage, transmission, treatment and distribution facilities, and related costs factors. Tap fees shall reflect the City's overall costs incurred to provide services for which the tap is requested and for which the tap is designed.