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Counties continue to look for ways to raise revenues as the factors that stress local budgets seem to increase every year.
A story in today’s issue addresses bills that would allow counties the authority to assess impact fees from new development projects and a land transfer tax on property, homes and commercial buildings when they are sold.
While Columbus County taxpayers’ best hope for tax relief this year would come if the General Assembly repealed the unfair Medicaid reimbursement it forces on counties, both impact fees and the land transfer tax have some merit.
While new taxes are seldom well-received, any new initiative to take pressure off property owners is worth considering.
Impact fees would force developers to pay a fee that would be used to offset the extra costs that come with new development.
A good example is the planned 300-plus-unit subdivision planned for Dothan. While new residents would help pay for water and sewer improvements through monthly payments, they wouldn’t necessarily help fund the greater need for new classrooms. Guideway Elementary, which serves the area, is already at or over capacity. Impact fees would help fund expansion or pay part of the cost of a new school, which is inevitable given the expected growth in the area.
Of course, impact fees can be a negative if they are so high they drive the costs of projects beyond what the market can bear.
We think impact fees are worth considering here, but under certain conditions. Namely, money from impact fees should be funneled directly into an infrastructure improvement fund that would be off limits for anything except infrastructure such as water, sewer and school construction projects that will be critical to attract more development.
The Dothan project is a reality only because Columbus County is able to hook into the Grand Strand Sewer Authority’s wastewater treatment plant.
Columbus County would be well served if it looked at creative ways to fund its own infrastructure capital outlays for the future. Without infrastructure, growth will not happen.