A major announcement was released by the The Metropolitian Council late Wednesday afternoon, with details provided about long awaited changes to the calculation formulas that determine Sewer Availability Charges in the future. SAC charges are one-time fees that are paid when a residence or business connects to the sewer system for the first time. This would be applied for new construction or changing of the type of use intended for a commercial or industrial property. A task force of city and business community leaders were assembled in 2017, to examine the complicated system used to determine how rates are charged. Currently SAC fees are calculated based on the net square feet of various uses of space within a location. As of July 1st, however, those calculations will be based, on the gross square feet of the entire building footprint. Fees paid for SAC may fluxuate as a business grows or the use of the space changes, meaning more demand would be made on the system. Locally, city leaders responded as early as Spring of 2016 to growing frustration in the calculation and overall impact of SAC charges required from residential and business developers, coupled with municipal charges that hampered economic viability.
According to Met Council Chair Alene Tchourumoff, the changes proposed are intended to reduce confusion, streamline the calculation process, and help businesses better plan their future expenses. One example given was restaurant that wanted to expand their seating capacity to patios and sidewalks on a seasonal basis. While such businesses already receive a deeply discounted SAC for outdoor seating space starting in July, they ll also get more outdoor space, up to about 40 seats, for which they don t have to pay the SAC fee. The council Met Council Chair also notes that cities will be making similar determinations with the new changes intended to be as revenue-neutral as possible. Met Council SAC rates will not increase because of the changes said Tchourumoff, as the $2,485 per unit charge for initial hook up has remained steady since January 2014.
Another big change is that because the gross square foot of a building does not change, if that sample restaurant closes, remodels and reopens with more seating in the same space, no increase in SAC charges would be made. For customers, user fees pay the cost of the Council’s wastewater treatment services, and no taxes are used to support those operations. More than 75% comes from municipal wastewater charges. SAC charges allows collection of funds that will be necessary to support the wastewater infrastructure required by a growing population. It was not made clear in the initial announcement, whether any pending SAC hookups would be able to use the new formula that will go into effect in July.
We’ve asked Hastings City Administration to comment on this groundbreaking change by the Met Council . We will provide their reaction in upcoming newscasts.
