Impact

fees could have an impact on Fayette County's

capital improvement projects of more than $20

million over the next 20 years, a blue ribbon

committee reported last week.

The

fees are charged to developers to help defray the

cost of additional county facilities and services

made necessary by their developments.

Members

of the impact fee committee appointed by the

County Commission to study the idea of charging

such fees have recommended the county charge fees

of $1,165 per home (plan A), or $1,183 per home

(plan B). Plan A depends upon collecting the fees

throughout the county, while plan B contemplates

collecting impact fees only in the areas outside

Fayette's cities.

Plan

A is the one most preferred by the committee, but

in order to collect impact fees inside the

cities, the county would have to get an agreement

from the city councils involved. Failing that,

the impact fee committee is recommending the

higher figure.

That

figure would raise only half as much money for

county projects in the first five years -

$1.11 million as opposed to $2.18 million,

according to the committee report. But experts

predict that as time goes on, more and more of

the county's growth will be taking place in the

unincorporated area, so that at the end of 20

years, plan A would have raised only about $3

million more than plan B - $23.75 million

compared with $20.65 million.

The

committee is recommending that the money be

earmarked for public safety and recreation

projects, because capital improvement plans for

both of those areas are in place, with facility

improvements planned in the near future.

proposed new county jail could absorb some of the

impact fee money, along with four new fire

stations that are in the planning stages,

committee Chairman Dr. Bob Todd told the County

Commission last week.

Having

projects lined up to receive the funding is an

important consideration, Todd said, because state

law requires that impact fees be used within five

years, or they have to be returned with interest.

Law

also limits impact fees to the portion of future

construction projects that can be directly

attributed to the growth in population.

They

can't be used to cover the cost of projects

already needed due to current population.

Therefore,

said Todd, almost half of the 384 new beds that

will be added to the county jail will be out of

bounds, because the jail already needs about 170

more beds than it has.

In

addition to public safety and recreation, impact

fees can lawfully be used for water treatment and

supply, wastewater treatment, roads, streets and

bridges, storm water systems and libraries. Todd

said the committee considered all of those areas

and rejected them because no major projects are

planned in the near future.

The

county can always add impact fees for those

services when the needs become apparent, he said.

The

Board of Commissioners will study the committee's

report and begin its own discussion of the pros

and cons of impact fees at future meetings.

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