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Oro Valley, which already has the second-highest residential building fees in the region, in September will add $1,793 to the cost of building a new home there.

That's a nearly 87 percent increase, but still a far cry from the increase of close to $5,500 in water-connection fees that the town proposed several months ago.

Marana has the highest building fees, according to estimates from the Southern Arizona Home Builders Association's government liaison, Alex Jácome. The association will be releasing exact figures for area municipalities on Tuesday, he said.

Oro Valley is softening the blow of two water-connection fee increases by phasing in one fee — the $5,182 Alternative Water Resources Development Impact Fee — over five years, rather than hitting developers with a nearly $5,000 fee all at once.

The town originally proposed increasing that particular fee from $300 to $4,982 for the average new home.

But for months the development industry argued that such a move would hinder building new homes and businesses in Oro Valley, possibly even bringing development to a halt. Development-impact fees add to the cost of building in a municipality.

After meeting with SAHBA and other stakeholders, the Oro Valley Water Utility decided that a compromise was the best option for that particular water-connection fee, said Philip Saletta, the utility's director.

Stakeholders at Wednesday night's public hearing said given the option, they prefer the five-year incremental phase-in that starts with the increase to $1,300 this year.

At the public hearing, Jácome called the compromise "the light at the end of the tunnel," saying it has been a "long, hard struggle."

Though he said the option the council chose was the best one presented so far, he urged the council and the town staff to continue exploring alternatives for down the road.

On Sept. 19, Oro Valley's Alternative Water Resources Development Impact Fee will increase from $300 to $1,300 for the most-common-size residential water meter and from $2,400 to $10,400 for a 2-inch commercial connection, a common size for Oro Valley businesses.

Those figures will increase incrementally until they reach their target amounts of $5,182 for the average residential connection and $41,160 for a new 2-inch commercial connection.

The Alternative Water Resources Development Impact Fee will help pay for bringing Central Arizona Project water and reclaimed water to Oro Valley, Saletta said.

The Town Council voted 6-0 in favor of the fee increase. Councilwoman Paula Abbott was absent.

It also voted unanimously in favor of increasing its Potable Water System Development Impact Fee, which pays for growth-related projects such as building new wells, by 45 percent on Sept. 19, increasing it from $1,774 to $2,567 for the most-common-size residential meter.