Columbus/Muscogee County, Georgia

Road and Utility Impact Fee Study
   

Duncan Associates assisted the Consolidated Government of Columbus in complying with the Georgia Development Impact Fee Act. The then recently-enacted Act required all local development exactions to be consistent with its provisions, and provided the framework for drafting impact fee studies and ordinances. The project entailed preparation of fee studies for roads, water and wastewater facilities. After reviewing the County’s road system and traffic levels of service and developing a potential road impact fee, the County decided that it would be premature to move forward

with the adoption of road impact fees at that time. The firm worked with the Columbus Water Works (CWW), the County’s water and wastewater utility service provider, to determine if its capital recovery fee levels were in compliance with the Act. The CWW delivers water and wastewater services to almost 200,000 residents in middle Chattahoochee River watershed. The County’s original water treatment plant was constructed in 1915. The first wastewater plant was built in 1964 and operated as a modern 42 million gallon treatment facility which served the entire community. The study determined that the CWW’s then-current capital recovery fee levels would not be in violation of the Act.