Public Facilities Impact Fee

“In order to implement the goals and objectives of the City of Merced's ("city") General Plan and to mitigate the impacts caused by future development in Merced, certain public facilities must be or have been required to be constructed, and/or compensation measures must be or have been required to be taken to offset resources lost due to the future development. The city council has determined that public facilities impact fees are needed in order to finance these public facilities, and/or compensation measures, and to pay for each development's fair share of the construction costs of these improvements, and/or the costs of the compensation measures.”

“THE CONSOLIDATION — one fee, many facilities. "A public facilities impact fee is hereby established on issuance of building permits for development in the City of Merced to pay for municipally owned public facilities, including, but not limited to, fire stations, police stations, community recreation facilities, traffic related improvements, and bikeways facilities.”

“A public facilities impact fee is hereby established on issuance of building permits for development in the City of Merced”

1998 (original); current program 2022-02-22 (effective 2022-03-26)

“City Council - Adopt a motion adopting Ordinance 2537, An Ordinance of the City Council of the City of Merced, California, amending Chapter 17.62, 'Public Facilities Impact Fees,' And Repealing Chapter 17.38 'Park and Recreation Facilities Fee' And Chapter 18.40, 'Park Dedication,' of the Merced Municipal Code.”

Ordinance No. 1989 (1998), as amended; current: Ordinance No. 2537

“City Council - Adopt a motion adopting Ordinance 2537, An Ordinance of the City Council of the City of Merced, California, amending Chapter 17.62, 'Public Facilities Impact Fees,' And Repealing Chapter 17.38 'Park and Recreation Facilities Fee' And Chapter 18.40, 'Park Dedication,' of the Merced Municipal Code.”

at certificate of occupancy

“Public facilities fees shall be charged and paid at the time of issuance of the certificate of occupancy. The fee shall be determined by the fee schedule in effect on the date of building permit issuance.”

City of Merced, the agency that levies it

“The revenues raised by payment of the public facilities impact fee shall be placed in a separate and special account and such revenues, along with any interest earnings on that account, shall be used for the following purposes: 1. To pay for design and construction of designated public facilities and reasonable costs of outside consultant studies related thereto; 2. To reimburse the city for designated public facilities constructed by the city with funds (other than grants or gifts) from other sources; 3. To reimburse developers who have designed and constructed designated public facilities which are oversized with supplemental size, length or capacity; and 4. To pay for and/or reimburse costs of program development and ongoing administration of the public facilities fees program.”

“EXEMPTIONS — Fees shall not be imposed on any of the following: 1. Any alteration or addition to a residential structure except to the extent that additional units or guestrooms are created. 2. Any alteration or addition to a non-residential structure if the square footage of the structure is increased less than 10 percent, unless the alteration or addition changes the use of the structure to a higher intensity category, or results in the generation of additional peak hour trips (PHT). 3. Any replacement or reconstruction of an existing residential structure that has become destroyed or demolished, provided that the building permit for reconstruction is obtained within fifteen (15) years after the building was demolished, except to the extent that additional units or guest rooms are created. 4. Any replacement or reconstruction of an existing non-residential structure that has been destroyed or demolished, provided that the building permit for reconstruction is obtained within fifteen (15) years after the building was demolished…”

“CREDIT OR REIMBURSEMENT — If the developer constructs improvements that are part of the public facility fee program and required by the City, the following shall apply: 1. If the actual cost of the improvement is equal to or less than the total amount of fees to be paid, the developer will receive a credit in an amount equal to the actual cost of the improvements (but in no event in excess of the City Engineer's estimate)… 2. If the actual cost of the improvements is greater than the total amount of fees to be paid, a reimbursement agreement with the City shall be established… 4. Of the fees collected for projects, one-half shall be dedicated to repayment for developer installed improvements and one-half shall be earmarked for improvements to be installed by the City.”

“Council direction was expressly no phasing: "Fee Options • Adopt the Maximum Justified Fee with No Phasing”