SDC’s & Excise Taxes

WHAT ARE SYSTEM DEVELOPMENT CHARGES (SDCs)?

System development charges are fees paid by new development to recover a portion of the cost of existing infrastructure and to help fund new infrastructure necessary to serve new development.  Infras­tructure includes streets, the water system, sanitary and storm sewers, and parks. There are two main parts to each SDC, a reimbursement fee and an improvement fee.  The reimburse­ment fee is the cost to “buy into” an existing capital investment in infrastructure.  The improvement fee is the cost to fund new infras­tructure made necessary by new development. SDCs are collected at the time a building permit is issued for new construction.  Existing developed properties also pay SDCs when connecting to the sanitary or storm sewers.  An incremental SDC is collected when the use of a devel­oped property intensifies—for example, requiring a larger water meter or creating a more impervious surface area.

HOW ARE SDCs CALCULATED?

SDCs are calculated by consider­ing:

  1. The replacement cost of exist­ing public facilities;
  2. Prior contributions of the prop­erty owner to the public facility system;
  3. Public facility capacity require­ments of a particular develop­ment, and;
  4. Cost of capital improvements to provide adequate capacity to new users.

SDC’s IN HAPPY VALLEY

SDC’s in Happy Valley are administered by the City (Transportation, Parks, and City Storm Drainage SDC’s, including an Administration Charge; Clackamas Co. Water Environment Services (Surface Water and Sanitary Sewer); and, by the Sunrise Water Authority and in limited areas, Clackamas River Water (Domestic Water).

CONSTRUCTION EXCISE TAXES (CET) IN HAPPY VALLEY

CET’s have been implemented by both the regional government (Metro) and the North Clackamas (NCSD#12) and Centennial School Districts. Currently, the Metro CET equals $0.0012 of the value of improvements for which the permit is sought.  Projects under $100,000 in value are exempted, projects over $10,000,000 have a maximum flat fee of $12,000.  The School Districts CET’s equal $1.26 per-square-foot for habitable residential structure over 1,000 square feet in size, and $0.63  per-square-foot for non-residential structures to a maximum of $31,400.