Folks who shop in Broken Arrow’s new Adams Creek Town Center may notice an extra one percent charge on their receipts called an ‘infrastructure fee.’
City leaders are addressing concerns from the public about where that fee is coming from and where the money goes.
City Manager Michael Spurgeon said in a social media post the fee is charged by the businesses and paid to the developer, and that it’s not a city tax.
Spurgeon said city staff looked into the matter and found that the developer of the shopping center near Kenosha and County Line Road, PDG-Broken Arrow, LLC, established what they call the “Adams Creek District Infrastructure Fee.” The city said it required the businesses in the center to pay the developer one percent of gross sales.
According to the city, documentation shows the purpose of the fee is to help make the development, construction and improvements for the shopping center “financially feasible.” The city also said it found that the fee is meant be part of the businesses’ rent.
City leaders said the fee is a private contractual and property matter between the developer and the businesses that lease space in the Adams Creek Town Center.
“The developer did not ask the City to impose the fee, and the City did not approve, adopt or authorize it as a municipal fee or tax. The developer established the arrangement privately through the recorded declaration governing its property. No City Council action or vote of the citizens created this fee.” Spurgeon wrote.
City leaders said they’ve confirmed with the developers of Hackberry Market, the shopping center under construction in south Broken Arrow, that no such fee will be implemented.
