Presentation

City of El Mirage — Work Session (2025-02-04)

View PDF Item 1 Meeting page

Extracted text (via pymupdf) 3882 characters
Development Fee Work
Session
City of El Mirage, AZ
February 4, 2025

2
TischlerBise, Inc.
40-year consulting practice serving local
government nationwide
■Impact fees/infrastructure
financing strategies
■Fiscal/economic impact
analyses
■Capital improvement planning
■Infrastructure finance/revenue
enhancement
■Real estate and market
feasibility
Apache
Junction
Avondale
Buckeye
Casa
Grande
Cave
Creek
Coolidge
Eloy
El Mirage
Flagstaff
Florence
Fountain
Hills
Gilbert
Glendale
Goodyear
Kingman
Maricopa
Nogales
Oro Valley
Payson
Peoria
Pinetop-
Lakeside
Queen
Creek
Safford
Sedona
Show Low
Sierra
Vista
San Luis
Somerton
Surprise
Tempe
Tucson
Wellton
Yuma

3
SB1525
■Three integrated products
»
Land Use Assumptions (at least 10 years and approved by
elected officials)
»
Infrastructure Improvements Plan (IIP) limited to 10 years
(no build out analysis)
»
Development Fees part of broader revenue strategy
■Based on same Level-of-Service (LOS) provided to
existing development
■Limitations on Necessary Public Services
»
3,000 square feet recreational facilities
»
No regional training facilities for public safety
■Refunds can be requested if improvements are not built

4
Legal and Methodology
■One-time payment for growth-related infrastructure, usually
collected at the time buildings permits are issued
■Can’t be used for operations, maintenance, or replacement
■Not a tax but more like a contractual arrangement to build
infrastructure, with three requirements
»
Need (system improvements, not project-level improvements)
»
Benefit
o
Short range expenditures
o
Geographic service areas and/or benefit districts
■Proportionate

5
Offsets
■Site specific
»
Developer constructs a capital facility included in fee calculations
■Debt service
»
Avoid double payment due to existing or future bonds
■Dedicated revenues
»
Property tax, local option sales tax, gas tax

6
Fee Methodologies
■Buy-In Approach (past)
»
New growth is “buying in” to the cost the community has already
incurred to provide growth-related capacity
»
When applicable
•
Near build-out
•
Community has oversized facilities in anticipation of growth
»
Other common names
•
Recoupment
•
Cost-recovery

7
Fee Methodologies
■Consumption-Based Approach (present)
»
Formula-based approach based on existing levels of service
•
Park acres per capita
•
Square feet per student station
»
Fee is based on the current cost to replicate existing levels of
service (i.e., replacement cost)
»
Provides flexibility
»
Other Common Names
•
Replacement cost
•
Level of service approach

8
Fee Methodologies
■Plan-Based Approach (future)
»
Usually reflects an adopted CIP or master plan
»
May offer more “bang for the buck”
•
Growth-related costs are more refined
»
Will be scrutinized more closely by development community

9
Fee Methodology Considerations
■Available data to support the methodology
»
No adopted facility plans or “iffy” CIP
•
Incremental expansion
»
Long-term capital improvement plan or adopted facility master
plans
•
Plan-based approach
■LOS of service reflected in capital plan?
»
Current LOS versus desired/adopted existing LOS
»
Is it financially feasible?
»
How will existing deficiencies be funded?

10
Better Proportionality
■Progressive residential fee structure
»
Improves proportionality
»
Can promote housing equity/affordability

11
Previous El Mirage Fees
■SB1525 enacted since suspension
■Previous development fees studied
» Water
» Wastewater
» Parks
» Police
» Fire
» General Government (currently prohibited)
» Transportation

12
El Mirage Situation
■200K-900K square feet of
commercial/industrial development
annually
■Limited residential starts
■Development fees are feasible
»
Buy-in to recoup past investment
»
Planned investment would drive
methodologies for some fees
»
Second fire station
»
Police station expansion
»
Service area (no development fees in
older areas?
»
Policy decision