Mesa Council to introduce ordinance removing Public Safety impact-fee column

Mesa City Council is scheduled to introduce Ordinance 26-0617 on July 20, 2026 that would amend the City’s Development Impact Fees (Mesa City Code, Title 5, Chapter 17) by removing the “Public Safety” impact fee category column. The ordinance would then be considered after a public hearing on July 27, 2026.

The agenda describes the change as an amendment to Table 1 to “remove the Public Safety Impact Fee Category column” and to “confirm the discontinuation of this fee.”

What Mesa’s code currently lists

Municode’s version of Mesa’s code chapter for Development Impact Fees includes Table 1 with a Public Safety column showing Public Safety impact fee amounts for different land-use types.

What the ordinance would change

If Mesa Council advances Ordinance 26-0617, the code-table update would remove the Public Safety impact fee category column from Table 1—an approach the City describes as confirming that the Public Safety impact fee has been discontinued.

That’s why residents and prospective buyers are likely to ask a practical follow-up: Does removing the column mean the Public Safety impact fee will stop being assessed for permits after adoption, or is this a code-table change reflecting something that has already ended through other implementation steps?

Why residents should care (and what to ask at the hearing)

Development impact fees are one of the tools local governments use to help connect growth to public capital needs. Even if this change is described as “confirming discontinuation,” the reader question is still the same: what happens next in the permitting process—what replaces this category, if anything?

At the July 27 public hearing, residents may want clear answers on:

• Timing/effective date: When would the code change take effect if Council adopts the ordinance after the hearing?
• “Discontinuation” meaning: Has the Public Safety impact fee already stopped being collected in practice, or would it stop only after adoption?
• Where Public Safety costs show up instead (if at all): Would any remaining public-safety-related assessments be handled under a different fee category, through a different City mechanism, or not collected via this table?
• Projects in the pipeline: How would Mesa handle applications submitted under the prior Table 1 structure?

Background to look at

Mesa’s preliminary impact-fee reporting materials for the fiscal year ended June 30, 2025 include a “PUBLIC SAFETY IMPACT FEES” section, which provides context for how the City has reported this category in recent reporting.

Because this is an introduction step on July 20, the July 27 hearing is the moment when public comments and questions about the real-world effect on future permit costs are expected to land.

Sources

• Mesa City Council agenda (July 20, 2026) — Ordinance 26-0617, Item 6
• Municode Library — Mesa Development Impact Fees (Title 5, Chapter 17) — Table 1
• City of Mesa — Citywide Fees & Charges: Development Impact Fees