Heber City’s population is expected to double over the next 20 years. To address that growth, the city is raising impact fees on new developments to help pay for infrastructure and maintain the city’s level of service.
The Heber City Council approved an updated Facilities Master Plan for 2025 to 2045 with these changes on Nov. 18. This version of the plan has been in the works for over a year and was created by city officials and Horrocks Engineers.
Heber City’s current population is estimated to be 22,156. By 2045, that number will be 44,419. These calculations are from city staff and incorporate tweaks to data provided by the Mountainland Association of Governments, which was found to be “under-forecasting” growth in the North Village area, explained Horrocks Engineers principal engineer Willa Motley.
The total cost of improvements to streets and the water, sewer, storm drain, pressurized irrigation and parks and trails systems over the next 20 years is expected to be $215 million. Of that, 49%, or $105.4 million, will be paid through impact fees on new developments.
City operating funds and grants will cover a portion of the remaining costs. About $18.5 million of the $215 million price tag will come from city operating funds.
But Heber City engineer Russ Funk emphasized that the majority of contributions will come from developers, both through impact fees and voluntary contributions.
“People talk about cities building cities,” explained Funk. “In large part, developers are who build the cities.”
The culinary water, sanitary sewer, pressurized irrigation, parks and trails and streets impact fees are all increasing, as well as the monthly storm drain utility fee. Notably, the City Council voted to continue the 45% subsidy of the streets impact fee for non-residential developments.
To Funk’s knowledge, that subsidy is paid for by the city’s transportation fund. The amount paid by the city over the next 20 years is expected to be $10.3 million, and is not included in the estimated $18.5 million coming from city operating funds to pay for the next 20 years of infrastructure improvements.
“The idea is that it would be an incentive to try to get more business that then provides more of a tax base,” Funk explained.
The full list of increased impact fees can be found in the online agenda for the Nov. 18 City Council meeting under section “Ordinance 2025-28 Adopting a Facilities Master Plan.”
According to a staff report compiled by Funk, a developer typically pays $13,688 in impact fees per residential unit built. With the new impact fees, that number will increase to $19,305.
A public hearing was held before the vote, but no one made public comment. The changes were approved unanimously by the City Council.
“It’s tough for me to just keep these prices high, and I know it’s painful,” said City Councilor Mike Johnston. “But that’s the inflationary world we live in, and that’s the level of service we live in.”
The new Facilities Master Plan goes into effect Feb. 16.