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Chatham County GOP suggests alternatives to raising impact fees
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Pittsboro, NC- June 24, 2009- The Chatham County Republican Party urges the board of commissioners to study alternatives before voting to raise impact fees and increase the cost of living for local citizens.
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The Chatham County Board of Commissioners is once again
considering increasing the cost of living in Chatham County by way of changes
to the county's impact fee structure.
Impact fees are assessed on all new residential construction
to help pay for new school construction.
The rationale is that new construction brings new families into the
county, which requires new schools to be built. The current fees are $1,100 for multi-family residences and
$3,500 for single-family residences.
It doesn't matter if that single-family residence is a trailer or a
million dollar mansion the fee is the same.
"One of the biggest problems with impact fees, as with all
planning regulations, is that they significantly raise the cost of new
homes. This is especially true of
lower priced homes and leads to a decrease in the number of affordable homes
built" said Donna Kelly, research director for the Chatham County Republican
Party.
The county Commissioners were very proud of the fact that
they were breaking new ground when they created one of the first Sustainable
Communities Departments in the country.
"With all that investment and focus on the groundbreaking nature of this
department and the commissioners' vision for the future, hopefully we'll see
some true innovation. Resorting to
the same tired old method of raising impact fees and then cobbling together
some system of exemptions and reimbursements to mitigate some of the damage
hardly seems innovative." Said Kelly.
Although impact fees have become popular in recent years
they are not the only method of dealing with growth related infrastructure
needs, such as schools.
Brian Bock, Chairman of the Chatham County Republican Party,
asks the commissioners to closely examine the unintended consequences of
raising these fees and to investigate alternatives before making a decision. "We
have several suggestions" said Bock. "First and most important, the commissioners should adopt the
bipartisan proposal to cut overall spending by 7% before even considering another tax hike. Our county government is living
beyond its means. The next step would be to study the pros and cons of alternative financing
mechanisms such as special assessment districts, temporary capital facilities taxes, tax increment financing or
other public-private means. I don't know if these are the answers for Chatham but I do know
that we should fund infrastructure without killing growth or burdening our citizens further".
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There will be a
public input session at the BOC meeting on Monday September 21, 2009 at 6:00pm. Now is the time to let them know what
you think about impact fees.
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The Chatham County Republican Party is a strong voice for responsible government and works to protect the interests of those working to build a strong sustainable community. For more information go to www.chathamgop.org |
