What is System Development Fees
System development fees are one-time charges assessed to new water and/or wastewater customers, or developers or builders, to recover a proportional share of capital costs incurred to provide service availability and capacity for new customers.
An updated System Development Fee Study was conducted by Raftelis Financial Consultants, Inc., in compliance with North Carolina General Statute 162A, Article 8. The study’s findings are available online.
What is Required by Currituck County
As a result of the passage of North Carolina General Statute 162A Article 8 (Article 8) signed into law on July 20, 2017 and amended on June 22, 2018, Currituck County hired Raftelis Financial Consultants, Inc. to develop a cost-justified water and wastewater system development fee analysis.
According to the statute, system development fees must be adopted in accordance with the conditions and limitations of Article 8 and must conform to the requirements set forth in the Article.
In addition, the system development fees must also be prepared by a financial professional or licensed professional engineer, qualified by experience and training or education, who, according to the Article, shall:
- Document in reasonable detail the facts and data used in the analysis and their sufficiency and reliability.
- Employ generally accepted accounting, engineering, and planning methodologies, including the buy-in, incremental cost or marginal cost, and combined cost approaches for each service, setting forth appropriate analysis to the consideration and selection of an approach appropriate to the circumstances and adapted as necessary to satisfy all requirements of the Article.
- Document and demonstrate the reliable application of the methodologies to the facts and data, including all reasoning, analysis, and calculations underlying each identifiable component of the system development fee and the aggregate thereof.
- Identify all assumptions and limiting conditions affecting the analysis and demonstrate that they do not materially undermine the reliability of conclusions reached.
- Calculate a final system development fee per service unit of new development and include an equivalency or conversion table for use in determining the fees applicable for various categories of demand.
More information on the System Development Fees new law can be found on North Carolina Local Government Law blog.
Timeline
Tuesday, January 21, 2025
Development Fee Analysis Results presented to the Board of Commissioners work session
Friday, January 24, 2025
Begin mandatory 45 day citizens comments acceptance period.
Monday, March 10, 2025
Last day to accept comments
Monday, March, 17, 2025
Development Fees findings Board of Commissioners Public Hearing
For more information contact the Public Utilities office at 252-232-6035.
