Impact fee study needs revamp

“Impact fees are charges imposed by local governments against new development. Such charges represent a total or partial reimbursement for the cost of additional facilities or services necessary as the result of the new development. Rather than imposing the cost of these additional facilities or services upon the general public, the purpose of impact fees is to shift the capital expense burden of growth from the general public to the developer and new residents.”

The Herald article stating that the County Commission didn’t feel comfortable implementing the school district’s 100 percent impact fee without a new study because they needed to use the most local and current study wasn’t totally accurate. The study needs to be updated because it doesn’t include the recently approved extension of the half-penny school sales tax.

Just think how lucky we are to pay a half-penny school sales tax, and carry the burden of paying off the capital bonds to reduce the impact costs for the developers. This reduces the cost of the new housing for buyers, which in turn holds down the resale value of your existing home. State statute grants the counties the power to establish impact fees. It would be interesting to know what level of government sets the rules that allow the mitigation of the impact fees, and why these rules do not follow the intent of the first paragraph of this letter. Perhaps the Herald could research this and inform the public.

This story was originally published April 7, 2017 at 5:11 PM with the headline "Impact fee study needs revamp."