Plant Expansion: On January 27th, 2021, the District received a letter from the Utah Department of Environmental Quality notifying the District that the agreed upon yearly phosphorus loading cap had been exceeded. The district was given 5 years to construct treatment processes or implement treatment alternatives to prevent exceedances in the future. While considering options to reduce the phosphorus level, the Board felt it was prudent to look at future community growth at the same time. The decision was made to increase wastewater capacity by two and a half times to account for expected growth. Of note, there will be more than a 5-year process to plan, obtain funding and complete construction of the new project.
Tax and Service Fee Increases: The District has not raised monthly service fees since January 1, 2021, nor increased property taxes since 2015…but due to inflation of 30% to 40% for wastewater related items, the Board feels that it must. In 2015, the property tax rate was 0.000209 as compared to 2023, when it is 0.000092. This is a property tax rate decrease of 0.000117. The total amount of taxes raised in 2015 was $44,674. If approved, the total amount of taxes raised for the District in 2024 will be $97,500, which is an increase of $52,826. With 1800 property owners, this equates to an average increase of $30 per owner per year.
Impact Fees: Utah Code Title 11, Chapter36, the Impact Fees Act, outlines the procedures and requirements applicable to any “payment of money imposed upon new development activity as a condition of development approval to mitigate the impact of the new development on public infrastructure”. The District hired Sunrise engineering to prepare an Impact Fee Facilities Plan and an Impact Fee Analysis. Two separate service areas were identified, with one being the current boundary of the Mountain Green Sewer Improvement District and the other being the Wasatch Peaks Ranch (WPR) area. The impact fee was raised from $5,685.20 per Equivalent Residential Unit (ERU) to $11,795.25 per ERU within the District and $11,294.91 per ERU for WPR.
WPR Monthly User Fee: A Capital Facilities Plan and user fee analysis was completed by Sunrise Engineering which reviewed and analyzed the existing and proposed sanitary sewer infrastructure that serves the Wasatch Peaks Ranch area. A user fee of $155.74 per residential connection per month was recommended for Wasatch Peaks Ranch, which is more than 3 times the current user fee paid by District customers. This higher fee is due to factors such as more complex WPR infrastructure resulting in higher operations and maintenance expenses.
Tax and Service Fee Increases: The District has not raised monthly service fees since January 1, 2021, nor increased property taxes since 2015…but due to inflation of 30% to 40% for wastewater related items, the Board feels that it must. In 2015, the property tax rate was 0.000209 as compared to 2023, when it is 0.000092. This is a property tax rate decrease of 0.000117. The total amount of taxes raised in 2015 was $44,674. If approved, the total amount of taxes raised for the District in 2024 will be $97,500, which is an increase of $52,826. With 1800 property owners, this equates to an average increase of $30 per owner per year.
Impact Fees: Utah Code Title 11, Chapter36, the Impact Fees Act, outlines the procedures and requirements applicable to any “payment of money imposed upon new development activity as a condition of development approval to mitigate the impact of the new development on public infrastructure”. The District hired Sunrise engineering to prepare an Impact Fee Facilities Plan and an Impact Fee Analysis. Two separate service areas were identified, with one being the current boundary of the Mountain Green Sewer Improvement District and the other being the Wasatch Peaks Ranch (WPR) area. The impact fee was raised from $5,685.20 per Equivalent Residential Unit (ERU) to $11,795.25 per ERU within the District and $11,294.91 per ERU for WPR.
WPR Monthly User Fee: A Capital Facilities Plan and user fee analysis was completed by Sunrise Engineering which reviewed and analyzed the existing and proposed sanitary sewer infrastructure that serves the Wasatch Peaks Ranch area. A user fee of $155.74 per residential connection per month was recommended for Wasatch Peaks Ranch, which is more than 3 times the current user fee paid by District customers. This higher fee is due to factors such as more complex WPR infrastructure resulting in higher operations and maintenance expenses.