Consultants present new impact-fee study showing higher maximum fees, sparking questions about growth and water reuse

Consultants from Kimley Horn presented a comprehensive update to Flower Mound’s impact-fee study, showing higher maximum assessable fees in 2025 compared with 2020 and prompting committee requests for additional comparative and historical data to guide Town Council’s April 20 public hearings.

Pete Kelly, a professional engineer with Kimley Horn, told the committee the consultant team calculated maximum assessable fees by dividing recoverable capital improvement plan costs by the projected service-unit growth over a 10-year period. He said the draft study shows service-area C carries the largest recoverable roadway cost (just over $191 million) and that, after final revisions to remove two projects (C17 and C18), the 2025 maximum for area C is expected to decline from the draft shown to the committee.

Connor Manley, also with Kimley Horn, presented water and wastewater findings. He said the water 10-year CIP totals about $267 million with roughly $94 million recoverable and an estimated 7,531 service units over 10 years, which yields a calculated maximum water fee of roughly $12,446 per single-family-equivalent service unit (2020 was $4,676). Manley said Town Council in 2020 adopted 80% of the maximum for water, producing current residential water rates near $3,741 for the standard meter.

On wastewater, Manley described consolidated service areas with varying 10‑year recoverable costs: Long Prairie (about $31 million total / ~$11 million recoverable), Lakeside (~$15.3 million total / ~$2.8 million recoverable) and Denton Creek (~$46.6 million total / ~$20.4 million recoverable). Wastewater fees per single-family home differ substantially by service area.

Committee members pressed the consultants on several policy points: the study produces a legal maximum but council chooses what percentage to charge (often 80% or 100% in practice), lower collection shifts the funding gap to other town funds or delays projects, and municipalities vary widely in the percentage of the maximum they actually collect. Kelly said fees may not be increased more frequently than every three years under the applicable statute and that phased escalation for up to 10 years is permitted by the law he described.

Committee members requested additional comparative information for council — specifically, the percentage of maximum fees other municipalities currently collect, and a reconciliation showing how much impact-fee revenue has been collected and spent since the 2020 update. Consultants and staff said some comparator data exist but compiling a clean historical reconciliation of collected versus spent funds would require staff work; they agreed to provide that information for council.

On water supply, Manley said the town’s master plan shows sufficient supply most of the year but a projected peak-month deficit in summer irrigation months of about 7–8 million gallons per day; the Lakeside reuse infrastructure is intended to reduce peak demand though the exact effect will be measurable only after portions of the project are built.

The committee did not adopt any fee changes; the presentation and committee feedback will be forwarded to Town Council, which will hold public hearings on the audit and the impact-fee update on April 20.