"As Matt mentioned, that maximum accessible fee of $21,000 per home just really wasn't in the appetite after we met with city staff and your CIAC committee." Kimley-Horn engineer Dylan Swoboda said this to the Weatherford City Council on October 13, 2026, in the middle of a presentation recorded in the meeting transcript. His next sentence gave the figure the city had chosen in its place, about $7,700 per home in the costliest part of town.
If you're pricing new construction or a custom build inside Weatherford's city limits, that gap is one line in your budget that you can read directly. Impact fees pay for the water lines, sewer capacity and roads that new homes require. In Weatherford, the amount a new house carries comes from a deliberate city decision to collect far less than Texas law allows. The location of the lot then decides which version of that decision applies.
The ceiling Texas allows, and the number Weatherford chose
Chapter 395 of the Texas Local Government Code governs how cities adopt impact fees. A city works out a legal maximum by dividing the cost of its 10-year capital improvement plan by the new development expected to use it. Council can then adopt any amount up to that maximum, including nothing at all.
Weatherford's July 2026 impact fee study was prepared by Kimley-Horn and posted by the city as a draft for interim review. Here is the ceiling it sets for one single-family home:
| Component | 2026 legal maximum, one single-family home |
|---|---|
| Water, per 3/4-inch meter | $8,714 |
| Wastewater, per 3/4-inch meter | $3,346 |
| Roadway, Service Area A | $9,158 |
| Combined, Service Area A | $21,218 |
| Presented to council for collection, Service Area A | about $7,700 |
The study uses the 3/4-inch meter as its base unit because it is the smallest new residential meter the city installs. On roads, the gap is wider. The legal maximum in Service Area A is $2,008 per vehicle-mile, and the example Swoboda walked council through used $420 per vehicle-mile.
According to Swoboda, the $7,700 figure was about $45 below the current rate. He put the citywide average for a single-family home's water, wastewater and roadway fees at $6,820 under current rates and about $6,800 under the proposed rates. The Community News reported that council approved the update unanimously after a public hearing.
So for a single new home, the fee barely moved. The ceiling behind it is about three times higher.
Why the city left most of the ceiling unused
Public Works Director Matt Leppla framed the decision as a balance. "We had a lot of discussions trying to find that balance in proposing a rate that didn't hinder development but also serve the nature of the program," he told council, as The Community News reported.
Weatherford's capital plans still have to be paid for. The study puts recoverable roadway costs at $49,140,737 in Service Area A, $31,248,772 in B, $19,785,996 in C and $7,035,554 in D. If the city collects a fraction of the maximum, the rest of that cost has to be financed some other way. A buyer of a new house pays a smaller share at the front end, and the city carries more of the long-term cost of growth.
The update also changed how the total is split. Leppla's staff report noted that the city last updated its water and wastewater fees in 2021 and its roadway fees in late 2025, and that it combined all three into one 2026 update. In the consultant's example of a 50,000-square-foot grocery store, the total fell from $335,704 to $310,425. Inside that total, the water fee rose from $12,430 to $14,924 and the wastewater fee rose from $11,870 to $14,924, while the roadway fee dropped from $311,404 to $280,577. The city's pricing moved toward utilities and away from roads. That matters most where road fees are highest.
Which side of FM 51 the lot sits on
Roadway fees differ across four service areas, and the study describes each one by how it relates to FM 51:
- Service Area A covers the western section of the city limits, generally west of FM 51. Its legal maximum is $9,158 per home.
- Service Area B covers the center of the city, east of FM 51 and inside Ric Williamson Memorial Hwy. Its maximum is $8,358.
- Service Area C covers the southern section, generally east of FM 51. Its maximum is $5,495.
- Service Area D covers the northeast, generally around Lake Weatherford. Its maximum is $8,677.
Swoboda described Area A as the highest roadway service area and said B, C and D would have lower roadway fees. Two lots a few miles apart, both inside city limits, can carry different infrastructure costs before any foundation is poured, and a listing doesn't show that.
Water follows a different boundary. The water impact fee service area covers the city's entire CCN, meaning its state-certificated water service territory, plus the ETJ, the zone just outside city limits, wherever no other water provider's CCN applies. A tract just outside city limits can still fall inside Weatherford's water fee area. Which provider serves an address decides which schedule applies.
What the same house would carry in Fort Worth
West Fort Worth is the usual comparison for buyers weighing new construction against Weatherford, and Fort Worth has made different choices:
- Water and wastewater: For lots platted on or after April 1, 2017, with building permits issued on or after October 1, 2026, Fort Worth's published schedule lists $4,485 for water and $4,257 for wastewater on a 3/4-inch meter. That comes to $8,742 before any road fee. On a 5/8-inch meter, the two fees are $2,990 and $2,838.
- Transportation: Fort Worth collects 65% of the maximum assessable rate on residential building permit applications accepted on or after June 1, 2026, according to the city.
- Commercial scale: For the same 50,000-square-foot grocery store, Fort Worth's impact fees total about $1.1 million, compared with Weatherford's proposed $310,425, as The Community News reported.
Fort Worth's water and wastewater fees for one 3/4-inch meter already exceed the roughly $6,800 Weatherford average for all three fees combined. On roads, Weatherford's example rate in Area A was about a fifth of its maximum. Fort Worth sets its residential road fees at 65% of its maximum.
Fort Worth also publishes its timing. Water and wastewater fees are assessed by plat-recording date and meter size, then collected before a building permit is issued. Transportation fees are assessed at final plat approval and collected when the building permit application is accepted. So the date a lot was platted can affect the fee schedule that applies to it.
Questions that belong in a custom-build budget
Fees are tied to meter size, service area and timing, so a few specific questions turn this from a city policy into a number you can use:
- Which roadway service area is the lot in? West of FM 51 means Area A, which has the highest roadway fee.
- Who provides the water? Weatherford's water fee area extends into parts of the ETJ, and a different provider's territory falls outside it.
- What meter size does the plan call for? Weatherford's study treats 3/4 inch as the base unit, and larger meters are multiplied by an equivalency factor. Swoboda's office example applied a factor of three and one-third to a 1.5-inch meter.
- Has the builder's bid been priced from the city's adopted schedule? The schedule that applies is the one the City of Weatherford publishes on its impact fees page and in its adopted ordinance, not the figures from the study presentation.
Frequently Asked Questions
Why did Weatherford update all three fees at once? Leppla told council that cities are required to review and update their programs every five years, The Community News reported. Weatherford combined its water, wastewater and roadway updates into one 2026 review.
Do impact fees apply to an existing home on resale? Leppla described impact fees as a tool cities use to recover costs associated with new development, as The Community News reported. How that applies to a particular property is a question for the city, through its impact fees page and adopted ordinance.
Is there any other utility financing on Weatherford's calendar? According to The Community News, at the same meeting council approved publishing a notice of intent to issue up to $3 million in certificates of obligation for utility system improvements. This relates to federally required replacement of lead and copper service lines, which must be finished by December 2037. A vote is set for December 15.
This post is general information, not legal, tax or financial advice. Before you rely on any fee figure, confirm the schedule for your specific lot with the City of Weatherford, your builder and the right professionals.
If you're weighing a lot west of FM 51 against one near Lake Weatherford, or comparing either one with west Fort Worth, The Agency - Ft. Worth can help you build the full cost of a custom home into the decision, from the land through the permit. Start with Get Home Value on your current home, and we'll take the plan from there.
