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QCVillager
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Posted: Sun Jun 21st, 2009 05:29 pm |
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Folks - this is a CALL TO ACTION, this stuff is serious and will impact YOU !
please do yourselves a favor and contact the folks below to let them know you
1) DO NOT support a 3 yr moratorium on Development Impact Fees and
2) DO NOT support a state budget that Raids Vehicle Lic Taxes or State Shared Revenues (the State should not be balancing it's budget on the backs of Cities/Towns)
• The Town of Queen Creek has played by the rules, but is now faced with the prospect of making drastic cuts that will directly affect the health, safety and quality of life of our residents.
Governor Jan Brewer
(602) 542-4331
Senator Bob Burns, Senate President
(602) 926-5993
rburns@azleg.gov
Representative Kirk Adams,
Speaker of the House
(602) 926-5495
kadams@azleg.gov
District 21 Senator Jay Tibshraeny
(602) 926-4481
jtibshraeny@azleg.gov
District 21 Representative Warde Nichols
(602) 926-5168
wnichols@azleg.gov
District 21 Representative Steven B. Yarbrough
(602) 926-5863
syarbrough@azleg.gov
District 23 Senator Rebecca Rios
(602) 926-5685
rrios@azleg.gov
District 23 Representative Barbara McGuire
(602) 926-3012
bmcguire@azleg.gov
District 23 Representative Frank Pratt
(602) 926-5761
fpratt@azleg.gov
Last edited on Sun Jun 21st, 2009 05:30 pm by
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QCVillager
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Posted: Sun Jun 21st, 2009 05:21 pm |
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http://www.azcentral.com/members/Blog/PhoenixEditorials/55778
Lawmakers must learn about impact fees
Take your seats, lawmakers. Class is now in session.
Our first lesson: how impact fees work.
Obviously, a lot of you are confused about this subject. You've already tried to raid cities' fees to help pencil out your own deficit, but the idea died after cities cried foul.
Now, you want to stop fee collections altogether, for three years, because home builders told you this would be a great way to speed economic recovery.
At what cost?
Cities collect impact fees according to complex formulas that quantify how much it would cost to build new streets, police and fire stations, water and sewer lines and other critical infrastructure. Developers pay them at the time of construction.
But the money doesn't sit there in a pot, waiting for someone to spend it. A good portion of impact fees are already spoken for to repay bonds issued for projects that have already been built.
For cities that grew rapidly in the last decade, taking away this funding source would be disastrous.
Impact fees or not, those bonds have to be repaid somehow. Lose the fees — which are ultimately paid for by new residents and businesses — and the entire community pays, in the form of increased water and sewer rates and possibly even more cuts to already-strained budgets.
That's just bad policy.
Gilbert leaders estimate a three-year moratorium would create an $86 million deficit in the town's water and wastewater budgets and a $48 million hole in its operational budget, which pays for critical services such as police, fire and street maintenance.
In Queen Creek, the cuts would be so severe that virtually all of the town's money would be used to repay projects. The town manager says parks would likely be shuttered and police shifts scaled back.
The impact wouldn't be nearly as severe in Chandler and Mesa, though both cities say they'd have to enact hefty utility rate increases to cover costs, further burdening cash-strapped residents.
What's more, badly needed fire stations and road projects would be put on hold in most cities, increasing response times, exacerbating gridlock and making our communities less desirable for potential investors and knowledge workers.
Phoenix officials haven't tried to estimate how much revenue they would lose to a three-year moratorium, because that depends on when the construction industry rebounds. As recently as the 2007-08 fiscal year, Phoenix collected $24 million in impact fees.
That money pays for water and sewer, roads, libraries, parks, police and fire stations that serve growing areas such as northeast Phoenix.
“If within that three-year moratorium building picks up, we would have to delay infrastructure improvements or put in other funding sources,” said Mark Cernetic of the city's budget and research department.
In other words, all Phoenix residents could pay higher water and sewer fees or increased property taxes to pay off bonds.
“And there are some concerns about what happens at the end of the three years,” Cernetic said. “Would they try to make it permanent? It takes away from the philosophy that new growth should pay for the services it requires.”
It's a story repeated across the Valley. With a moratorium, badly needed fire stations and road projects would be put on hold in most cities, increasing response times, exacerbating gridlock and making our communities less desirable for potential investors and knowledge workers.
So tell us, class, how would that boost the economy?
Maybe a moratorium would lure some skittish builders into the market, but it's doubtful. Economists have said we have years' more housing than the market can fill. Not to mention that far fewer people are moving here since the recession started and jobs started evaporating.
If there aren't enough residents or businesses to fill the additional buildings that would supposedly be built under this moratorium, what good is it to eliminate fees?
Anyone? Anyone?
Thursday, June 18, 2009 at 05:09 PM
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