Earlier this month, Morehead City Council members unanimously passed the first reading of a new ordinance. The measure would establish an impact fee for new businesses and developments hooking up to the city’s sewage system.
The fee, recommended by the Morehead Utility Plant Board, or MUPB, would be placed on any development without a pre-existing sewer connection. Officials said these impact fees are standard in larger towns and cities, used to compensate for the cost of upsizing sewer and water systems rather than hiking rates for existing customers.
Holly McGrath-Rosas is the general manager at the MUPB. She said Morehead’s industry and infrastructure are growing, which means officials need to be proactive in making these developments economically sustainable.
“Now, as things are continuing to grow, we’re having some of the same issues in other areas. And even the areas that we’ve upsized, you’re starting to see they’re going to come up to a point where we’re going to have to look at them again and review them to see if they’re going to have to be upsized even more,” said McGrath-Rosas.
She said MUPB is prioritizing keeping the existing community’s costs low while still maintaining proper water treatment and infrastructure.
“By implementing something like this, it takes the burden away from the people that are already struggling, that have already paid into this infrastructure and have already paid for these improvements. And it puts it back on the people that are coming here,” said McGrath-Rosas. “That’s great that you want to come here, but it’s just not fair to everybody else if we have to pay for you to be here.”
Officials said the impact fee is aimed toward large establishments, such as Morehead State University’s incoming science building, the newly proposed UK St. Claire HealthCare hospital, and housing projects like the forty units being constructed at Triplett Creek.
More information on the Morehead Utility Plant Board’s operations is available online.