SAWS board approves higher fees for new development; council has final say
San Antonio Water System’s board has unanimously approved charging higher impact fees for new development, sending the increases to the San Antonio City Council for final approval.
SAWS charges the fees as onetime payments at the time of connection to water and wastewater services. The revenue helps cover the costs of adding infrastructure to the system to keep up with growth.
The city-owned utility must update those fees every five years, based on information about projected growth and expected costs to serve that growth. State law dictates how the utility must calculate those; the fees approved by the board of trustees Tuesday are the maximum amount allowed under those rules.
Tracey Lehmann, interim vice president of engineering, told the board that’s one of SAWS’ priorities in setting the rates.
“Our goal is to charge the maximum impact fees so our ratepayers are not subsidizing development,” he said.
If approved by the City Council, the fees would increase by an average of 23%. However, the cost would vary across the city because it costs SAWS more to transport water and wastewater to and from different locations.
Fees would increase most on the Northwest Side, which is at the highest elevation the utility serves, making it more difficult to move water uphill. Impact fees there would rise by about 35% from $8,548 to $11,528.
On the far South Side, outside Loop 1604, fees would increase from $5,902 to $7,343, a 24% jump.
The fees are based on one equivalent dwelling unit, or EDU, which is a measure of the amount of water typically used by one residential home, which is 290 gallons of water per day and 200 gallons of wastewater per day. EDUS are calculated for commercial development based on size and usage, and apartments and condominiums are considered one-half of an EDU. Large developments pay impact fees based on the number of EDUS in their project.
In the next 10 years, the water system projects it will need to service 161,030 new water EDUS and 148,129 new wastewater EDUS.
The fees now go to the City Council, which must hold a public hearing before voting to adopt them. If approved, they would take effect in June.