Regina council tackles 'Who pays for growth?' question tonight

Members of city council in Regina are set to tackle one of the most significant debates in the municipal arena: how to pay for new developments.

The meeting, which begins Monday afternoon, has only the one topic on the agenda but that subject comes with a large pile of documents outlining the complex relationship between the development industry and city hall.

When new areas of a city are built, homes in those neighbourhoods need to connect to existing roads and other infrastructure, such as the water and sewer systems. Those are multi-million dollar expenses and Regina, like other cities, charges developers a per-hectare fee to cover those costs.

For the past several years, officials in Regina have been studying the fees to ensure the city is charging the right amount and doesn't run into financial problems.

At the same time, the examination of the fees (known as a development levy or servicing agreement fee) leads into a debate about who shoulders the expense associated with municipal growth: the people who move into the new areas or the city as a whole.

Officials said public opinion on the issue is mixed.

"Taxpayers ... were split on whether or not taxpayers should make any financial contributions to growth-related projects," a report on the fees issue said.

The lengthy report, prepared by administration, is recommending development fees rise over the next three years to $451,000 per hectare by 2018. Fee hikes would be phased in and some development areas will pay lower rates during the first two years of the phase-in period.

According to officials, the 2016 fees (if approved by council) work out to about 4.5 per cent of the cost of a new home built in a new development.