The District’s fees are intended to operate as an economic disincentive to producing groundwater as one of the available regulatory tools. The Regulatory Plan provides a permit fee structure that includes a Base Fee and a Disincentive Fee.
Base Fee – This fee is applied to all of a permittee’s authorized groundwater withdrawals. Funds obtained from the collection of base fees are used to cover the costs of issuing permits and performing other regulatory functions of the District.
Disincentive Fee – In addition to the base fee, a disincentive fee will be applied to groundwater withdrawals that exceed a permit limit. The purpose of the disincentive fee is to create an economic incentive for permittees to take steps to ultimately reduce groundwater use. The disincentive fee is applied in each permit year that groundwater reduction requirements are not met. The District periodically reviews the disincentive fee rate to ensure the rate encourages compliance with this Regulatory Plan and makes adjustments as needed.
HGSD’s Regulatory Plan provides several solutions to avoid disincentive fees, including Groundwater Credits, Groundwater Reduction Plans, and Groundwater Conservation Plans. Discover more information about these solutions in the District’s Rules.
The revenue collected from the disincentive fee is strictly dedicated to funding the District’s Science & Research program.
To view HGSD’s current fee schedule, please click here!