Bozeman, Montana

Multi-Facility Development Fee Study
   

For the City of Bozeman, Duncan Associates developed a multi-facility fee study that addressed road, water, wastewater and fire facilities. To calculate road fees, the demand associated with different types of development on Bozeman's Major Street Network was expressed in a common unit of measurement, called a "service unit." To calculate water and wastewater fees, the service demand associated with different types of utility customers was expressed in "equivalent residential meters." An ERM is a common denominator that converts all classes of customers into a common unit of

expression. The ratio of each meter's capacity to the capacity of the base meter determines the number of ERMs associated with each meter. Most of the City's utility customers use both water and wastewater service. To calculate fire fees, the demand on Bozeman's fire/EMS response system associated with different types of development was expressed in "fire demand units," which represented the demand for fire/EMS facilities required for a single-family dwelling. The methodology used in calculating fire demand units associated with various land use types was based on fire flow requirements. Required fire flow is the rate of water flow, expressed in gallons per minute (gpm), estimated to be necessary to extinguish a fire associated with a land use type. The required fire flow associated with a land use provides a reasonably strong relationship between the land use and the demand for fire/EMS capital equipment. An interesting twist to the Bozeman story is that, after adopting the fees at a reduced amount pursuant to a recommended phase-in schedule, the City Council opted to not increase them any further. A local citizens group subsequently initiated a referendum mandating that the fees be increased to an amount better reflecting "full cost recovery." It passed as Initiative 19 in November 1998.