Fayette

County's proposal for impact fees - charged

to developers to defray the cost of county

services made necessary by their developments

- is ready to go to state agencies for

approval.

But

city governments must still approve collecting

some of the proposed impact fees within their

borders before the package can be sent to the

state Department of Community Affairs.

Once

DCA approves the plan, the county can begin

collecting fees, but probably not in time to

prevent or reduce an expected tax increase to

cover debt service this coming year.

Included

in the formal proposal approved by county

commissioners last week is a new set of impact

fees to be charged for industrial and commercial

development. The net effect of those fees will be

to reduce residential impact fees, since the

total amount of revenue the county can collect

through the fees is regulated by the state.

When

commissioners approved the fees earlier this

year, projections were that residential

developers would pay about $1,700 per new home.

The new plan calls for $527.25 per home for fire

services and $770.99 per home for the jail.

New

business and industry would pay fees based on the

type of business and number of employees. For

instance, a retail trade business employing 15

people would pay $4,331.56 for the jail and

$4,232.92 for fire services.

The

bottom line should be about the same, said Dennis

Davenport with the county attorney's office.

"This should produce the same revenue as the

totally residential fund would have

produced," he said.

Commissioners

are hoping the fees will pay about $1 million

toward the $25 million cost of a new jail, and

about $18 million over 20 years for new fire

stations and equipment.

It

may be August before all the cities will complete

the required public hearings and get the

information back to the county, commissioners

said.

The

county must establish its property tax rates in

September, so it's unlikely the new fees can be

approved in time to affect an expected 1.5 mill

tax hike to cover the $4 million debt service on

the jail and courthouse complex.

<!--

-----------