Title
Fee Ordinance Changes - Land Use and Environmental Services Agency
Action
ACTION:
Adopt amended Land Use and Environmental Services Agency (LUESA) Fee Ordinance
Staff Contact: W. Dave Canaan, LUESA-Storm Water Services
Presentation: No
BACKGROUND/JUSTIFICATION:
By Interlocal Agreements, LUESA - Storm Water Services division provides Land Development services on behalf of the towns. The services may vary from Town to Town. Generally, the services are comprised of performing plan review, permitting and inspection services for land development activities, such as, erosion control, storm water, transportation, zoning, etc. The Land Development Services Interlocal Cooperation Agreements state that the County may charge fees to offset the costs incurred in providing the services on behalf of the Towns. On July 1, 2019, the Town of Huntersville started providing most of these services themselves.
In FY19, Storm Water Services developed a time/expense tracking system, 100% cost recovery hourly rate model and Land Development fee model to better align the revenue generated from fees with the services provided. The output from the system and models indicated that the fees being charged do not cover the expenses incurred by Storm Water Services.
The Towns and LUESA - Storm Water Services recommend revisions to the LUESA Fee Ordinance to achieve the following goals:
· County recover 100% of its costs and minimize subsidies, and
· Set fees to attain a Land Development Reserve Goal to fund pre-paid services by FY22
The FY20 budget was the first year of a two-year phase-in of fee increases. The proposed FY21 budget is based on the fees being fully phased in. Also, there were no revisions to the proposed FY21 fees from what was shown during the FY20 budget adoption process.
An informal Budget Committee consisting of the five Town Managers and the Storm Water Services Division Director exists. They have endorsed the above goals and proposed...
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