Whitefish Council discusses impact fee revenue

Last week the Whitefish City Council unanimously approved its 2024 Impact Fee Report and adopted an agreement amendment with Verizon.  

Finance Director Lanie Gospodarek provided the annual report to the council about impact fee funds. She said the Impact Fee Advisory Committee recommended TischlerBise, an economic consulting firm, to provide an accurate report that would reflect the growth and needs of the city. That study was completed in 2023. 

The total cash reserves of the seven impact fee funds, paved trails, park maintenance building, emergency services center, city hall, stormwater, water, wastewater, increased by a little more than $714,000 from fiscal year 2024 to fiscal year 2025. 

“While increasing cash reserves is appropriate when projects are planned within a reasonable time frame, it is generally accepted that the revenue generated from impact fees be spent within five to 10 years,” Gospodarek said. “This generally accepted practice is based on developers paying impact fees to help fund capital improvements directly related to their developments’ increased demand on public facilities.” 

Gospodarek said impact fee expenditures in fiscal year 2024 included the south water storage project, for which almost 43% of the project fees were paid from water impact fees. 

A small stormwater improvements expenditure of $372 was made towards the Monegan Street Construction project. No impact fee costs were incurred for four of the seven funds. 

Gospodarek said Whitefish has seen a decrease in building activity due to increased building costs and higher interest rates. She said impact fee revenues have decreased in FY 2023 and FY 2024. 

The council approved the report with a 4-0 vote. 

WHITEFISH City Manager Dana Smith and City Attorney Angela Jacobs negotiated an amendment to the city’s license agreement with Verizon for the Emergency Services Center location. The council adopted the change unanimously. 

The agreement, which allows Verizon to install and maintain wireless service facilities at the Emergency Services Center in exchange for rent, has been in place since 2018. The original ending date was May 31, 2028. 

The amended agreement says a new five-year term will begin June 1, 2028, and Verizon can opt to renew the license for three additional five-year terms. 

Another change is a reduction in rent from $25,619 to $23,300 starting June 1, 2028, with a 4% increase each year. All the other requirements remain the same. 

“While it's an unusual thing to consider a reduction in rent ... we would collect ... about $100,000 less than what we would get if we just extended the current agreement, but again they said they would not agree to that,” Smith said 

“I do believe that it is in the best interest to approve the [amendment],” she added. “This is funding that we do use in our property tax supported funds.” 

SMITH SAID the adopted FY 2025 budget includes $28,000 for lobbying services for the 2025 Montana legislative session. A rating panel and selection committee are required to hire a new lobbyist.  

The council followed the staff’s recommendation to appoint City Attorney Angely Jacobs, Smith and Muhlfeld. Other councilors expressed interest in being involved. 

Deputy Mayor Frank Sweeney led the meeting in the absence of Mayor John Muhlfeld. Councilor Andy Feury was also absent.