Giacobbe Byrd, 509.625.6715
Monday, March 27, 2023 at 2:22 p.m.
Council President Beggs and Council Member Kinnear are proposing adjustments to the General Facilities Charges (GFCs) that Council updated for the first time in over 20 years at the March 13, 2023, Legislative Session. Their proposed ordinance is included in the agenda for Council consideration at tonight’s Legislative Session.
The Beggs and Kinnear proposal would temporarily limit increases to the GFCs that were in place prior to March 13, 2023, by 66%, representing the cumulative percentage of cost index increases since adoption. The full rates will be implemented on January 1, 2024, unless Council makes additional changes.
“This compromise will protect those developers who are in the middle of a project and allow them to submit a building permit to accelerate building that is much needed to both increase housing in 2023 and increase the available funding for infrastructure needed to build additional housing in 2024 and beyond,” said Beggs. “The bottom line is that existing ratepayers will stop subsidizing new housing infrastructure while fully incentivizing permanently affordable housing.”
“Council President and I are following up on the commitment we made two weeks ago to consider further modifications to GFC charges,” said Kinnear. “Our proposal balances the need to provide an adjustment period for sewer and water GFC charges in order to allow additional public input while also more accurately reflecting the cost of constructing new water and sewer capacity to support growth. I hope Council Members will join us in supporting this commonsense proposal that supports our developers without allowing the public to continue footing the bill.”
