The price of hooking up to the Fayetteville sewer system just got cheaper. The City Council last week voted unanimously to lower the fees to make it more attractive for development and re-development projects and to make the calculations for hook-ups less cumbersome.
The council on previous occasions had heard an explanation of the proposal from city Assistant Director of Finance Ellen Walls. The old fee schedules were not easily interpreted by builders and developers and are cumbersome for staff to administer and maintain, Walls said.
“The desire in developing new fee schedules is to enhance and encourage new development as well as re-development in the city especially during these challenging times,” Walls said.
Citing examples of the changes subsequently approved by the council, the standard residential fee for a three-quarter-inch meter currently totaling $1,576.80 decreased by more than $98 to $1,478.50 while a daycare center with a 1.5-inch meter decreased from $8,721.80 to $4,928.50, a savings of $3,793.45 over the old pricing structure.
Walls citing other examples of the decrease said a restaurant with 22 seats and a three-quarter-inch meter carried fee of $6,298. The new fee structure decreases that cost to $1,478.50, a difference of $5,499.50. And a larger restaurant with 90 seats and a two-inch meter saw the old fee of $25,767 decreased to $7,885.35, a savings of $17,881.65.
As for issues such as the conversion of building uses, Walls cited the example of a retail space changing uses to that of a small restaurant. The conversion under the previous price structure would have been $2,970.80, but under the pricing structure approved last week there will be no fee assessed.
