College Station Residents Should Insist on Impact Fees for Water/Wastewater Projects
Recently, the city completed its water and wastewater master plans. In the next 10 years, the city will be required to make additional capital investments of $43 million and almost $105 million, respectively, for those services.
Water and wastewater services both are enterprise funds, which means that all costs associated with delivering these services are met by the customers who use them. They are completely self-sufficient — no property taxes, sales taxes, or any other revenue sources are used to pay for them.
The $148 million worth of capital improvements will be paid for by borrowing the money over a 20-year period. The annual principal and interest payments will have to be met with revenues in the respective enterprise funds. In the coming months, the council will decide the fairest way to allocate these repayment costs among water and wastewater customers.
Who should pay the $148 million bill?
Council members all perceive themselves as fiscal conservatives. They each strive to keep costs as low as is compatible with the quality of service the city’s residents expect. Thus, all council members are likely to profess fealty to the central principle of fiscal conservatism, which is that those who benefit from a service should pay for it. If those who benefit do not pay the full cost of a service, then the rest of the community is required to subsidize those users.
