AMENDMENTS TO CITY TRANSPORTATION IMPACT FEES UNDER CONSIDERATION
Jonathan Slason, PE, of local firm RSG, Inc. appeared before the City Council to give a presentation on the City’s Transportation Impact Fee structure and how it might be updated. Mr. Slason is an expert on impact fee ordinances and calculations and has been working with City Staff for a number of months on a needed update to the ordinance.
Impact fees are available under state law to municipalities experiencing growth. Very generally speaking, when residential or commercial growth places an additional demand for municipal infrastructure, like roads, fees can be charged to the development that is creating that demand to support the needed infrastructure. Calculating impact fees is in part based upon projected transportation capacity expansion projects that may be a number of years out. Growth also must be projected so that an accurate calculation can be made regarding how much impact fee should be charged to each new unit of development. Lastly, the projects to be undertaken must also be supported by the rest of the taxpayers in the community through available funding mechanisms which typically includes the property tax. By charging impact fees on new units the financial impact falling to all other taxpayers is reduced.
You can find Mr. Slason’s presentation nearby. More work needs to be done on the projections for future transportation projects and growth. Staff will return to Council when that work is done so that the ordinance amendment process can begin.
For more information on the TRANSPORTATION IMPACT FEES - CLICK HERE