Sherman Approves Impact Fees, but At Lower Rate
The Sherman City Council on Sept. 21 voted to approve an ordinance for impact fees. Cities are required to do a study that estimates what their infrastructure costs are and, based on that study, provide a formula that sets how much they can assess per unit. In Sherman, the maximum allowed to be charged was upwards of $7,000 for single-family residential. However, members of the Sherman City Council, including the Mayor, were concerned about the negative impact high fees could have on residential development and their local economy. They also recognized that new homes bring revenue and will, over time, pay the share for the costs via taxes.
With those concerns at heart, the Council instead approved a lower fee per single-family rooftop of roughly $2,500 for roadway, water and wastewater combined. The breakdown is about $1,000 for roadway fees, $1,000 for water with a ¾” meter and $500 for wastewater with a ¾” meter. While water and wastewater are set at the same fee throughout the city, roadway fees vary depending on which of the four service areas include the roadway.
With concern about giving developers who have already purchased property enough time, the Council delayed the effective date until June of 2021, and those developments that have reached final plat by that date will have twelve months to build before having new construction assessed the new fees.
The Council also included a discount of 75% per section unit for those residential uses identified in service area 3.
During the process the council was open to hearing from the development and building sector, including taking calls and comments from the Dallas BA.