PRESCOTT – The Prescott City Council held a public hearing Monday, March 10 to discuss amending and making additions to the city’s impact fees.

In May 2024, the Prescott City Council approved an agreement with Trilogy Consulting Group to review and update the city’s impact fees, which hadn’t been revised since 2003. City Administrator Matt Wolf explained that the fees are part of the city’s public facilities needs assessment. The updated fees include the water impact fee, library impact fee, fire and EMS impact fee, and parks impact fee. Additionally, the public buildings fee was broken out into a separate police impact fee, while the streets impact fee was removed. The water impact fee was updated based on meter size, with residential fees still per unit, and commercial/industrial fees now based on square footage.

The total impact fees on a single-family residential home will be $3,965 per unit up from the previous $2,190. Wolf also noted that the recommendation at the previous Prescott Plan Commission meeting was to remove the parkland fee. However, the changes sparked concerns among residents and council members.

“I just have to tell you this is the most anti-growth document I’ve seen come out of this body,” Prescott resident Tom Oss said.

He referenced the suspension of impact fees in 2019 due to the lack of building activity and cautioned against swinging too far from one extreme to another, from no fees to “coming in double everybody else.”

Another Prescott resident, who plans to build in a local development, raised concerns about Prescott's higher fees compared to nearby cities like Baldwin, Ellsworth, New Richmond, and River Falls. She researched her own price comparisons of nearby cities and Prescott was “by far the highest when you add those numbers together.”  She pointed out that Prescott's sewer connection fee was significantly higher than those of other cities and worried that the total fees, which could total nearly $11,000 for building a house, would deter future builders. She was particularly concerned about the increased parks impact fee, which had doubled from her initial budget.

“The library amount has gone up quite a bit,” she commented.

She noted that it’s based on a $1.8 million library building renovation which may or may not be something that the town supports at that point.

“But we’re already charging for that?” she questioned.

She also mentioned that the projected number of housing units for 2024 to 2025—over 100 units—seems unusually high to her.

Prescott resident Bill Hovel raised concerns about the accuracy and usefulness of the report provided by the consulting firm.

“I’m a little concerned that we’re paying a consulting firm good dollars to do a good report for us,” he said.

He specifically pointed out that the report indicates 103 housing units are projected for 2024 to 2025, a number he found unusually high for Prescott.

“Then that inflates the rest of the numbers going all the way down to 2040 so it just trickles itself all the way through,” he added. “If we’re going to spend money on consulting, we need good numbers to make informed decisions. Without accurate data, we won’t make good decisions.”

He also expressed concern that the current impact fees might discourage potential homeowners, especially considering the high interest rates. He mentioned that it’s a lot of fees to put on people who are already facing tough financial conditions.

As the council discussed the community concerns, City Administrator Matt Wolf asked that Eric Granum of Trilogy Consulting, LLC, specifically address the projected housing units.

“The projected housing units are coming from the Wisconsin Department of Administration,” Granum explained. 

He added that they prepare population and household projections, primarily focusing on future estimates for 2040. He emphasized that the goal is to make the projections as accurate as possible.

Mayor Robert Daugherty questioned the basis for the study’s projection of a large "building spree" in Prescott, asking, “What’s that actually based off of? Historically we haven’t had that much.”

Wolf responded, explaining that the growth projections were calculated using five-year increments. He then turned to Granum for further clarification.

Granum replied that from 2000 to 2024 there was an average increase of just over 20 housing units per year. 

“Going forward, what we’re looking at projecting is about 17.4 housing units per year.”

Wolf further explained that a price comparison of Prescott and surrounding communities had been reviewed, noting, “To everybody’s point we are the highest community and a large part of that is because our sewer connection fee is $4,750 per connection.”

As the council considered the approval of Ordinance 03-25, Alderperson Mike Gerke requested to table the issue, expressing concern over the high cost of impact fees.

“I don’t know, $9,000 for impact fees for a house is beyond ridiculous,” he remarked.

Alderperson Maureen Otwell said, “We knew that we were going to have to increase those because we have some very serious issues in sewer and water that we absolutely have to address in the town.”

She highlighted concerns such as well issues, high nitrate levels, equipment maintenance, and the lack of previous impact fee implementation. She expressed that all costs are necessary to resolve these problems.

Alderperson John Peterson expressed his concern, commenting, “The jump in the parks (fee) is significant.”

Daugherty asked Otwell, “If you look at the big picture at the end of the day would you want to build a house?”

The motion to approve Ordinance 03-25 passed with Alderpersons Dar Hintz, Maureen Otwell, and Lindsey Sorenson voting in favor, while Alderpersons John Peterson and Mike Gerke voted against it.