Fees & Charges

System Development Fees

Purpose and Statement

The North Carolina General Assembly passed House Bill 436 in July 2017, amending Chapter 162A of the General Statutes by adding “Article 8, System Development Fees.” This amendment was enacted as “An Act to Provide for Uniform Authority to Implement System Development Fees for Public Water and Sewer Systems in North Carolina and to clarify the Applicable Statute of Limitations” which requires compliance with designated calculation methodology.  

Through House Bill 436, the General Assembly of North Carolina established a uniform approach and associated methodology required for local governmental units to calculate and implement System Development Fees for public water and sewer systems. The Town of Clayton conducts a periodic review of these fees with the last update being made to them in FY19. 

What are System Development Fees? 

System Development Fees are defined as a charge imposed on each new customer or development that generally offsets the incremental cost of replacing existing and/or constructing new capital assets to provide capacity that will continue to meet the demands placed on the system by each new customer or development. Since water system capacity must, without exception, exceed customer demands, the major infrastructure components providing this capacity, such as water treatment plants, reservoirs, wells, pump stations, etc., must be planned and constructed well in advance and in large enough increments to keep pace with anticipated demand on the available system capacity. 

More Information

The Town of Clayton commissioned Black and Veatch, a global utility consulting firm, to analyze its water and sewer System Development Fees considering current events, in order to ensure compliance with HB 436. Black and Veatch prepared a preliminary report of their findings and presented them to the Clayton Town Council on Monday, Oct. 5, 2023. This report, along with a copy of the presentation and a recording of the meeting, are available below:

Documents

Black and Veatch will present the System Development Fee Study Findings to the Clayton Town Council during a public hearing at the regularly scheduled council meeting on Monday, Dec. 4, 2023 at 6:00 p.m. at Clayton Town Hall located at 111 E. Second St., Clayton, NC 27520. Prior to that, the community has 45 days to review and provide comments for consideration of possible modifications or revisions. Those comments may be provided electronically through email, or by mail: 

To provide electronic comments please send to the email: SDFStudy@townofclaytonnc.org 

To provide comments by mail: please send to the following address: 

Town of Clayton
Attn: Engineering Department
PO Box 879
Clayton, NC 27528 

Comprehensive List of Fees & Charges

Permit fees are largely comprised of four components - building permit fees, utility connection fees, water and sewer development fees, and transportation development fees. You can view the fees in our Comprehensive List of Fees and Services (PDF) to estimate your permit cost. There may be small additional fees.