Happy Friday, Beacon readers! After a bit of Daily Roundup musical chairs being played by the Beacon staff of late, Lauren Frick here, back to punch in for my usual Friday shift. Last time you heard from me, I was regaling you all with my musical musings and sordid shuttle stories from Under the Big Sky. Somehow lost in the Whitefish cowboy boot shuffle was the much, much more exciting world of … everyone say it with me now … impact fees!
While I may jest, anyone looking to build in Whitefish will be happy to hear that city councilors last week approved amendments to the city’s impact fee ordinance, which significantly lowered rates.
An impact fee is any charge imposed by a local government upon new developments to fund the additional service capacity required by the development from which it is collected. The city has assessed impact fees since 2007 with several updates approved to the policies and rates since.
The city’s last big update to impact fees came in September 2023 and was based on a “Service Area Report and Impact Fee Study” prepared by consulting firm TischlerBise. The city council at the time adopted seven impact fees for the following public facilities: parks, paved trails, city hall, police, fire, water, and wastewater. After the 2025 Montana Legislature amended state laws for impact fees, the city eliminated both impact fees charged for parks, paved trails, and city hall, and the 5% administrative fee added to the impact fees.
The new legislation also triggered a review of current water and wastewater impact fees that would ordinarily not be reviewed until 2028. In October 2025, TischlerBise completed the updated study, ultimately recommending a reduction in both water and wastewater impact fees.
The consulting firm’s review found a 23% decrease in water consumption, reducing the capital cost per Equivalent Dwelling Units (EDU), according to city documents. Similarly, a reduction in wastewater use of 20% and the elimination of the wastewater collection project from the capital component of the wastewater impact fee after adequate funds were collected to proceed with the project, reduced the capital cost per EDU.
“What we’re finding, whether it was from conservation or seasonal rentals not occupied to the fullest extent, they determined that we were using less water for both on the water side and on the wastewater side because we’re measuring it going in and out,” Finance Director Lanie Gospodarek told councilors at their July 20 meeting.
“I would say the majority of the wastewater reduction is through [inflow and infiltration],” Public Works Director Craig Workman added. “A significant amount of the water consumption on the drinking water side is cast iron water main replacement.”
For a development requiring a three-quarter-inch meter — the typical meter size when building a home — the water impact fee will be reduced by $843, while the wastewater impact fee will be reduced by $2,682, according to city documents.
“I just want to point out in this technical conversation, what just happened was the city found a bunch of water leaks in very old pipes, fixed them, and reduced the overall net water usage of the town by 23%,” Councilor Ben Davis said at the July 20 meeting. “That’s quite a bit, or at least a whole lot of the 23%, therefore, reducing our required capital investment going forward.
“I think that’s a good example of spending money to save money,” he added. “I think when we’re out there digging up Highway 93 South and making a mess and replacing pipes and working on pipes, this is a very real, tangible reflection of that fact.”
I hope y’all have an impactful weekend. Here’s the rest of today’s Daily Roundup, full of no fee, free-to-read news in the Flathead Valley.
‘We Just See More and More People’: Flathead Food Banks Say Demand Steady as SNAP Benefits Taper and Prices Rise
From changes to work requirements to more cumbersome SNAP paperwork and an ongoing affordability crisis, food bank directors said determining a single cause was challenging
Regional Wildfire Resource Strain a Concern Heading into Peak Wildfire Season in Montana
The beneficial effects of a late June rainfall are starting to wane across the state as fires in the West rage, draining resources as Montana heads into its historically peak months for wildland fire
Flathead Valley Rotary Clubs present the Great Bear Festival! Join us at the O’Shaughnessy Outdoor Amphitheater for a sunset concert community event. The Great Bear Festival returns with family fun, local sounds, and a new headline show by Tommy Edwards and Man & The Box. Bring a blanket or lawn chair and settle in as the sun goes down.
WCC Film Series is proud to present a 5-part summer series with the theme, Born in Montana. These unique cinematic experiences will feature actors or directors that were born in the state of Montana. Viva Knievel! features ruthless drug smugglers plotting the cold-blooded murder of celebrated motorcycle daredevil Evel Knievel as he tours Mexico. They aim to use his truck to sneak a consignment of narcotics back across the United States border. When Knievel learns of this appalling scheme, he hatches a daring and spectacular plan.
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