Star, ID Development Impact Fees (2026)
A new single-family home in Star, Idaho pays about $32,492 in total development impact and water/sewer connection fees per unit as of Jun 16, 2026 — about $21,042 in impact/development fees plus $11,450 in water & sewer connection (tap/SDC) fees. Every figure below is normalized per dwelling unit by category, with a link to its official source.
What a single-family home pays in Star
$32,492 total per unit across 7 fee categories.
- Sewer connection (tap / SDC)$8,500
- Transportation / roads$5,803
- Fire / EMS$5,752
- Parks & recreation$4,696
- Police$4,041
- Water connection (tap / SDC)$2,950
- General government / capital$750
Star’s $32,492 is about 1.7× the Idaho tracked median of $19,153 — among the higher-cost places to build in the state.
Full fee schedule — single-family detached
Impact / development fees
| Fee (local term) | Basis | Amount | Source · effective |
|---|---|---|---|
Transportation / roads ACHD Transportation Impact Fee (Single Family Detached) — VERIFIED. Transportation/road impact fee levied by the Ada County Highway District (ACHD), a SEPARATE district, collected at the City of Star building permit. ACHD Ordinance No. 254, effective March 1, 2026 ($5,803/single-family home), single service area model. Confirmed on the City of Star fee page (verbatim) and corroborated by ACHD's adoption notice (Meridian-hosted PDF: 'Single Family : $5803.00') and KIVI/KTVB reporting. | per dwelling unit | $5,803 | City of Star, Idaho Mar 1, 2026High |
Transportation / roads Highway District No. 4 (Canyon County) Impact Fee — VERIFIED on City of Star fee page. MUTUALLY EXCLUSIVE alternative to the ACHD transportation fee. Star straddles the Ada/Canyon county line; parcels in the Canyon County portion pay Highway District No. 4 ($5,050) INSTEAD OF the ACHD fee ($5,803). ACHD (Ada County) treated as representative/primary; this Canyon County variant excludeFromTotal=true (correct). alternative · not added to total | per dwelling unit | $5,050 | City of Star, Idaho —High |
Fire / EMS Star Fire Impact Fee — VERIFIED on City of Star fee page (verbatim). Fire impact fee levied by the City of Star, per dwelling unit. | per dwelling unit | $2,152 | City of Star, Idaho —High |
Parks & recreation Star Parks Impact Fee — VERIFIED on City of Star fee page (verbatim). Parks/recreation impact fee levied by the City of Star, per dwelling unit. | per dwelling unit | $4,696 | City of Star, Idaho —High |
Police Star Police Impact Fee — VERIFIED on City of Star fee page (verbatim). Police impact fee levied by the City of Star, per dwelling unit. | per dwelling unit | $681 | City of Star, Idaho —High |
Police Public Safety Mitigation Fee - Police — VERIFIED on City of Star fee page (verbatim). Police 'Public Safety Mitigation Fee' charged by the City of Star in addition to the Police Impact Fee. Additive mitigation/exaction (per dwelling unit). | per dwelling unit | $3,360 | City of Star, Idaho —High |
Fire / EMS Public Safety Mitigation Fee - Fire — VERIFIED on City of Star fee page (verbatim). Fire 'Public Safety Mitigation Fee' charged by the City of Star in addition to the Fire Impact Fee. Additive mitigation/exaction (per dwelling unit). | per dwelling unit | $3,600 | City of Star, Idaho —High |
General government / capital Ada County Impact Fees (Jail, EMS, Coroner) — VERIFIED on City of Star fee page (verbatim). Ada County (SEPARATE county government) impact fee covering Jail, EMS, and Coroner capital facilities, collected at the City of Star permit, per single-family dwelling unit. | per dwelling unit | $750 | City of Star, Idaho —High |
Water & sewer connection fees
| Fee (local term) | Basis | Amount | Source · effective |
|---|---|---|---|
Water connection (tap / SDC) Water Connection Fee (per EDU) — VERIFIED in Star Sewer & Water District Residential Permit Application PDF (Revised 3/31/2026): 'Water Connection Fee Amt. Paid $2,000.00 PER EDU ... $2,000.00'. Water connection/capacity fee charged by the SWD (SEPARATE special district providing all water/sewer in Star); 1 SFD = 1 EDU. | per meter | $2,000 | Star Sewer & Water District Mar 31, 2026High |
Water connection (tap / SDC) Water Meter Lease Fee (3/4" meter) — VERIFIED in SWD Residential Permit Application PDF (Revised 3/31/2026): 'Water Meter Lease Fee Amt. Paid ¾" Meter ... $950.00'. One-time water meter (lease) fee for the standard residential 3/4" meter (representative meter size), additive to the water connection fee. | per meter | $950 | Star Sewer & Water District Mar 31, 2026High |
Sewer connection (tap / SDC) Sewer Connection Fee (per EDU) — VERIFIED in SWD Residential Permit Application PDF (Revised 3/31/2026): 'Sewer Connection Fee Amt Paid $8,500.00 PER EDU ... $8,500.00'. Sewer connection/capacity fee, $8,500 per EDU (1 SFD = 1 EDU). PDF total water+meter+sewer = $11,450.00 ($2,000 + $950 + $8,500), confirmed. | per meter | $8,500 | Star Sewer & Water District Mar 31, 2026High |
Single-family attached (townhome) impact fees in Star
Impact / development fees
| Fee (local term) | Basis | Amount | Source · effective |
|---|---|---|---|
Transportation / roads ACHD Transportation Impact Fee (Single Family Attached) — VERIFIED. ACHD transportation impact fee for attached single-family (townhome/duplex). Confirmed on City of Star fee page; ACHD PDF lists 'Duplexes/Townhouses: $3182.00 per permit/unit'. Alternative land use to the detached SFD primary row; excludeFromTotal=true (correct). alternative · not added to total | per dwelling unit | $3,182 | City of Star, Idaho Mar 1, 2026High |
Multifamily (per unit) impact fees in Star
Impact / development fees
| Fee (local term) | Basis | Amount | Source · effective |
|---|---|---|---|
Transportation / roads ACHD Transportation Impact Fee (Multifamily, per unit) — VERIFIED via news. ACHD transportation impact fee per multifamily dwelling unit under Ordinance 254 (effective 3/1/2026). The official ACHD fee-change cover sheet (source 3) does NOT publish a flat multifamily figure ('Multi-Family/Commercial Permits: Contact ACHD Impact Fee Team for Assessment'); the $2,371/unit comes from KIVI/KTVB news reporting on the adopting ordinance, so confidence downgraded high->medium. CORRECTED: excludeFromTotal set to true (multifamily land use, not part of the SFD representative stack). alternative · not added to total | per dwelling unit | $2,371 | KIVI-TV (Idaho News 6) Mar 1, 2026Medium |
Accessory dwelling unit (ADU) impact fees in Star
Impact / development fees
| Fee (local term) | Basis | Amount | Source · effective |
|---|---|---|---|
Transportation / roads ACHD Transportation Impact Fee (Accessory Dwelling Unit) — VERIFIED in Meridian-hosted ACHD fee-change PDF ('Accessory Dwelling unit: $1934.00'), effective 3/1/2026 (Ordinance 254). Excluded from SFD primary total; applies only when an ADU is built. excludeFromTotal=true (correct). alternative · not added to total | per dwelling unit | $1,934 | Ada County Highway District (hosted by City of Meridian) Mar 1, 2026High |
Coverage & caveats
FOUND (re-confirmed against sources): City of Star FIRE impact fee ($2,152), PARKS impact fee ($4,695.76), POLICE impact fee ($680.88); City of Star Public Safety MITIGATION fees for Police ($3,360) and Fire ($3,600); Ada County general/capital impact fee for Jail/EMS/Coroner ($750); ACHD TRANSPORTATION impact fees collected at the city permit (SFD $5,803, SF attached $3,182, multifamily $2,371/unit, ADU $1,934, effective 3/1/2026 under ACHD Ordinance 254); Highway District No. 4 / Canyon County transportation fee ($5,050); and Star Sewer & Water District WATER CONNECTION ($2,000/EDU), WATER METER LEASE (3/4\" $950), and SEWER CONNECTION ($8,500/EDU) fees.
Does not exist / not applicable
NO SCHOOL impact fee — Idaho Code Title 67, Ch. 82 does not permit school district impact fees. No separate City of Star DRAINAGE/stormwater, LIBRARY, OPEN SPACE, or AFFORDABLE HOUSING impact fee on the adopted City fee schedule.
Key caveats / structure
(1) Transportation impact fees are levied by ACHD (a SEPARATE district) but collected by the City of Star at permit issuance; the City fee page lists them directly. (2) Star straddles the Ada/Canyon County line — Canyon County parcels pay Highway District No. 4 ($5,050) INSTEAD OF ACHD; ACHD is the representative primary and HD4 is excludeFromTotal as a mutually-exclusive variant. (3) ALL water/sewer service in Star is provided by the Star Sewer & Water District (SEPARATE special district); fees are per EDU (1 SFD = 1 EDU); 3/4\" residential meter is representative. (4) The City also charges valuation-based building permit fees and separate MEP permit fees and application submittal fees, which are not flat per-DU impact fees and are not itemized. (5) ACHD multifamily fee: the official ACHD fee-change cover sheet (source 3) says 'Multi-Family/Commercial Permits: Contact ACHD Impact Fee Team for Assessment' and does NOT publish a flat figure; the $2,371/unit comes from KIVI/KTVB news reporting on Ordinance 254, so that row's confidence was downgraded to medium.
Verify
confirmed 14 of 14 fee rows (all amounts and source quotes re-confirmed: 11 City of Star page rows verified verbatim via fetch; 3 SWD rows verified in the Residential Permit Application PDF; ACHD SFD/SF-attached/ADU corroborated in the Meridian-hosted ACHD PDF; ACHD multifamily corroborated via KIVI/KTVB news); dropped 0 fee rows.
Corrections
(a) excludeFromTotal corrections: set excludeFromTotal=true on the ACHD Multifamily per-unit row (sourceIndex 2) — it is a multifamily land use, not part of the SFD representative stack, and the researcher had it included; all other excludeFromTotal flags (SF attached, ADU, HD4) were already correct. (b) POPULATION CORRECTED 20,874 -> 14,745: the claimed 20,874 'U.S. Census Bureau QuickFacts July 1, 2025 estimate' is NOT a Census figure — it is worldpopulationreview.com's 2025 PROJECTION and was misattributed. The official U.S. Census Bureau estimate (Annual Estimates of the Resident Population, July 1, 2024, V2024 release; corroborated by idaho-demographics.com and Data USA) is 14,745. Source 5 relabeled to the V2024 QuickFacts table (PST045224) and its mislabeled '20,874' title removed. (c) Source list trimmed: the researcher's source 2 (achdidaho.org news URL) and the duplicate achdidaho.org impact-fees page both returned Akamai 'Access Denied' (403) and could not be independently fetched; the multifamily citation was re-anchored to the KIVI-TV/KTVB news report that carries the identical figures, and the unverifiable ACHD webpage was removed from sources. The Meridian-hosted ACHD PDF (now source 3) was fetched and confirmed. Representative SFD total recomputed to $32,491.64 with no double-counting.
Residential single-family-detached representative new-home fee stack in the City of Star (Ada County portion), all amounts independently re-confirmed: ACHD transportation $5,803 + Star Fire $2,152 + Star Parks $4,695.76 + Star Police $680.88 + Public Safety Mitigation (Police) $3,360 + Public Safety Mitigation (Fire) $3,600 + Ada County (Jail/EMS/Coroner) $750 + SWD water connection $2,000 + 3/4\" meter lease $950 + sewer connection $8,500 = $32,491.64 in one-time impact/connection fees per single-family home (excluding the City building permit and MEP permit fees, which are valuation-based and separately scheduled). Excluded-from-total rows: ACHD Single Family Attached ($3,182), ACHD Multifamily per unit ($2,371), ACHD ADU ($1,934), and Highway District No. 4 / Canyon County ($5,050, mutually-exclusive alternative to ACHD for parcels in Star's Canyon County area). Water/sewer fees are per EDU (1 EDU = single-family home); 3/4\" is the standard residential meter.
Sources
5 official sources · 13 high-confidence figures.
- 1Fee Information - City of Star Building DepartmentCity of Star, Idaho · fee schedule · retrieved Jun 16, 2026
- 2Residential Permit Application (Revised 3/31/2026)Star Sewer & Water District · fee schedule · effective Mar 31, 2026 · retrieved Jun 16, 2026
- 3ACHD approves update to impact fees and long-range transportation plan (Ordinance 254)KIVI-TV (Idaho News 6) · news article · effective Mar 1, 2026 · retrieved Jun 16, 2026
- 4ACHD Impact Fee Change Notice & Traffic Impact Fee Schedule (Effective March 1, 2026)Ada County Highway District (hosted by City of Meridian) · fee schedule · effective Mar 1, 2026 · retrieved Jun 16, 2026
- 5U.S. Census Bureau QuickFacts: Star city, Idaho (Population estimate, July 1, 2024 V2024)U.S. Census Bureau · government report · retrieved Jun 16, 2026
Star impact fees — FAQ
- How much are development impact fees in Star, ID for a single-family home?
- As of 2026-06-16, total development fees for a single-family detached home in Star are about $32,492 per unit — roughly $21,042 in impact/development fees plus $11,450 in water/sewer connection fees. Figures are normalized from official sources; verify with the jurisdiction before relying on them.
- Are impact fees in Star the same as building permit fees?
- No. Impact fees (and water/sewer connection fees) fund off-site capital — roads, parks, schools, utilities — and are charged per new dwelling unit. Building permit and plan-review fees are separate and are not included here.
- How often do Star's impact fees change?
- Most jurisdictions adopt fees by ordinance and escalate them annually (often by a construction cost index), with occasional mid-year updates. Always confirm the current adopted schedule with the jurisdiction. ImpactFeeAtlas last verified Star on 2026-06-16.
Compare impact fees in nearby Idaho jurisdictions
Cities with a similar fee burden
Jurisdictions in other states with total single-family fees close to Star’s $32,492 per home.