Council publishes biennial impact‑fee audit; public hearing set for Sept. 17

The Queen Creek Town Council voted unanimously to publish the biennial impact‑fee audit and set a public hearing for Sept. 17, as required by Arizona statute.

Jay DeWitt, deputy finance director, summarized the audit background and statutory process for the council. "Impact fees... are set subject to statutory requirements," DeWitt said, adding that the town conducts a third‑party audit every two years to ensure fees and expenditures comply with the infrastructure improvement plan. He told the council staff planned to publish the audit report on the town website and hold the required hearing 60 days later.

Auditor findings: Jim Revenar, audit partner with Heinfeld Meach, reported the firm completed the audit covering fiscal years 2022‑23 and 2023‑24 and issued a report dated June 11, 2025. Revenar said audit procedures tested samples of revenue and expenditure transactions to confirm fees were charged per the approved schedule and that expenditures funded projects on the infrastructure improvement plan. "No findings were noted," Revenar told the council, summarizing a clean audit.

Growth and variances: Both staff and the auditor compared actual permit activity to the growth projections in the 2019 study and found several variances. DeWitt said residential permits were below the 2019 projection in some categories but that extraordinary industrial and commercial activity — including permitting tied to LG Energy Solutions, Fry's Marketplace and an Earnhardt dealership — drove impact fee revenues well above the 2019 projections for those categories. DeWitt reported overall impact fee revenues were "92% higher than our 2019 projection" for the audit period, driven largely by industrial space and retail permits.

Council action: Council Member Benning moved to approve the item; Council Member Brown seconded. The motion passed unanimously. Staff said they would publish the audit report and schedule the statutorily required public hearing on Sept. 17 to receive comment.

Next steps: The audit will be posted to the town website and the council will hold the public hearing to accept comments on the impact fee program and the audit results. Staff thanked the audit firm for completing the review.