Kalispell considers revised fees for new construction

JOHN STANG

The Daily Inter Lake

For a newly constructed home, the water impact fee would shrink while the sewer impact fee would increase under a proposal to be considered by the Kalispell City Council.

Also, the city could charge a stormwater impact fee for the first time, a consultant and an advisory committee proposed.

The council was briefed on the proposal at a Monday workshop session. The proposal is scheduled to go to the council next Tuesday with a request to set a Sept. 18 public hearing on the plan. Then the council expects to vote on the proposed new fees on Oct. 2.

The proposal was developed based on recommendations from a Portland consulting firm, HDR/EES, and an impact fee advisory committee. The proposal includes these recommendations:

. The water fee would drop from $2,749 to $2,155 for a new residence. Much of this decline is due to a healthy financial situation in the city's water-related funds. Fees for new businesses requiring larger water lines would be greater, and would be based on need.

. The sewer fee would increase from $2,196 to $2,432 for a new residence. A home outside of Kalispell and the Evergreen water and sewer district that uses both systems to reach Kalispell's sewage treatment plant might face paying impact fees to both. Fees for new commercial buildings would be greater than those for residential property, and would have to be calculated on the amount of sewage produced.

. A new stormwater impact fee of $1,090 for a new residence is proposed.

Impact fees are charged one time to new buildings being added to the city's utilities, and are supposed to offset the extra burden they will place on Kalispell's systems. These fees help the city cover extra expenses in building extra lines, pumping stations, treatments and administration.

In the future, the advisory committee expects to study potential impact fees for streets, fire and police protection, plus parks.

Also Monday, the council:

. Sent City Manager Jim Patrick back to talks with the Evergreen board with its thoughts on how to handle sewer services to properties outside of both Kalispell and Evergreen, but which want to use those systems.

Right now, both Evergreen and Kalispell sewer lines lead to Kalispell's sewage treatment plant. But Evergreen is considering building its own sewage plant.

If an outlying subdivision uses Evergreen's lines to reach Kalispell, then Evergreen would own the lines within that outlying subdivision, Evergreen's board and the city apparently and tentatively agree. Also, if such an outlying subdivision is annexed into Kalispell, the city would assume ownership of that area's sewer lines.

However, the two sides don't appear to agree regarding some implications if Evergreen builds a sewage treatment plant.

Evergreen's board proposed that if it has it own sewage plant, an outlying subdivision being annexed into the city would not be prohibited from using the Evergreen plant.

Council members said it could not be guaranteed that in the future Evergreen's sewage treatment fees would not be greater than what Kalispell would charge its customers. The council considered a scenario where a newly-annexed outlying chunk of Kalispell might send its sewage to an Evergreen plant - with those annexed homeowners being charged potentially higher Evergreen sewer fees.

. Heard that roughly 800 Kalispell homes have not responded to city requests to allow workers into those residences to exchange their water meters for more efficient models for free. The rest of the town's homes have allowed this action.

Mayor Pam Kennedy told the city staff to send one more reminder request to these homes before threatening more severe action, such a cutting off their water supply.