County Looks at Water Requirements, Sewer, and Fees

Churchill County is looking at ways to reduce costs associated with new development, including the amount of water rights developers must dedicate and fees charged to connect to county water and sewer systems.

Public Works and Planning Director Randy Hines updated county commissioners Aug. 6 on both issues. No changes were approved.

The county currently requires 1.12 acre-feet of underground water rights for proposed development. Staff has submitted a proposal to the Nevada Division of Water Resources to use a modified version of Truckee Meadows Water Authority Rule 7, which bases requirements on lot size rather than applying the same requirement to every lot.

“We're waiting for the state to respond back and have meetings with them,” Hines said. The county proposed a 25 percent buffer, but that could decrease based on the state's review.

“If they come back and say, based off our water usage, that could use Rule 7 with a buffer of 10%, that's what we would come back and propose to you guys,” he said.

Hines said staff chose 25 percent as a middle ground. If the state is comfortable with 10 percent, he said, “we're going to try to get that lower.”

Commissioners also discussed water and sewer connection fees, currently $7,200 and $6,500, respectively. The fees help fund infrastructure upgrades and expansions.

Hines used hypothetical water and sewer projects to demonstrate how future fees could be calculated based on improvement costs, money already collected, and remaining system capacity. His examples resulted in lower fees, but Hines cautioned that the figures were hypothetical.

Commissioner Eric Blakey asked staff to determine future costs while keeping fees as low as reasonably possible. “We don't want to lie to ourselves, and we don't want to cause any undue burden by not charging enough. But we don't want to burden the citizens and charge too much.”

Commission Chairman Myles Getto said calculations should also account for how long it could take to add new users. “If that takes us 20 years, that's 20 years of inflation,” Getto said.

Planning Department staff is also considering changing county code so connection fees could be set by resolution and reviewed annually. Another proposal would delay collection of the fees until closer to the issuance of a certificate of occupancy, reducing the time developers carry those costs during construction.

County Assessor Denise Felton noted that changing hookup costs would affect only a portion of developable property because connections depend on access to existing infrastructure.

“What I'm saying is, is that affects a small number of developable parcels within the county,” Felton said.

Commissioners took no action. Staff will continue working on the proposals while the water-right reduction remains under state review.