Water Sector News
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El Paso Water service in new neighborhoods could cost $1 billion over 10 years. Who should shoulder the cost?
https://elpasomatters.org/2024/04/30/el-paso-city-council-water-impact-fees-urban-sprawl/
On May 7, the El Paso City Council is expected to answer a complicated, fraught question: should developers – and, in essence, new homebuyers – pay for the cost of new growth?
As developments stretch out into the desert along the periphery of the city, El Paso Water ratepayers are increasingly shouldering the cost of extending water and sewer lines out to new neighborhoods.
Every home and business in the city already pays a couple of extra dollars on their monthly water bill to cover the cost of providing water and sewer service to new housing developments, such as Campo Del Sol in the far Northeast or Enchanted Hills in the Northwest.
Last week, the council by a margin of 4 to 3 advanced an increase in impact fees that would require homebuilders to pay the water utility thousands of dollars more per home they build to offset those costs. The council will cast a final vote next week.