System Development Fees
The City of Hendersonville contracted with Stantec Consulting Services to calculate system development fees for its utility systems in accordance with the North Carolina Public Water and Sewer System Development Fee Act, set forth in North Carolina General Statute 162A, Article 8. A system development fee is a one-time charge paid by a new customer to recover a portion or all of the cost of constructing water and sewer system capacity. The fees can also be assessed to existing customers requiring increased system capacity. In general, system development fees are based upon the costs of current and/or future utility infrastructure including, but not limited to, water supply facilities, treatment facilities, effluent disposal facilities, and transmission mains. System development fees serve as the mechanism by which growth can “pay its own way” and minimize the extent to which existing customers must bear the cost of facilities that will be used to serve new customers. Currently, the City does not assess system development fees and therefore does not recover the cost of providing water and sewer capacity from new connections to the utility systems.
During the course of the SDF study, the North Carolina General Assembly passed legislation (House Bill 600), which includes a provision to reduce residential wastewater design flow rates. As a result, the wastewater design flow rate was reduced accordingly in establishing a sewer level of service per equivalent residential unit (ERU) and the SDF Study was revised on October 30, 2023.
The Water and Sewer System Development Fee Study dated October 30, 2023 was available for public review and comment from Wednesday, November 1, 2023, through Monday, December 18, 2023, at 5 p.m. No public comments were received during this time.
City Council will hold their regular monthly meeting on Thursday, March 7, 2023, at 5:45 p.m., in the City Operations Assembly Room located at 305 Williams Street, Hendersonville NC to consider adoption of a water and sewer system development fee.
DRAFT System Development Fee Ordinance:
City of Hendersonville Water and Sewer System Development Fee Study: