Building a new house in Queen Creek could cost far more in one-time water charges under a fee proposal the Town Council heard Oct. 7, as the town tries to keep existing customers from paying for the water future residents will need.
"We are drawing a line in the sand," Deputy Town Manager and Chief Financial Officer Scott McCarty said at the meeting, according to the Queen Creek Tribune, which detailed the proposal in a report published this weekend.
The numbers
Andy Burnham, a consultant with Stantec, told the council that the 3.1 million acre-feet of water the town has secured, at a cost of $370 million, covers its roughly 46,000 current water customers.
Ten-year projections call for about 20,700 more homes, and the water supply for them is estimated at $170 million. The proposal would raise that money through two one-time charges collected when new homes connect:
- The water delivery fee for a single-family house would rise from $2,328 to $4,591.
- A new water resource fee would be added: $6,119 for a home on the town's sewer system and $10,999 for a home that buys only water from the town. The difference reflects credits for wastewater the town's sewer system recovers.
Taken together, the one-time impact and capacity cost of a new single-family home would go from $13,038 today to $21,366 with town sewer or $25,446 without it.
