mayor

June: A Banner Month for Good News In Wilmore (July 97)
WHAT IS WILMORE? (June 97)
When You Need to Risk...Risk It ! (May 97)

Current Changes

While the community of Wilmore has aggressively addressed impact fees some communities have developed a sliding scale based on the amount of impact. We presently have a $1,000 fee on both now water and sewer taps, of which 85% is set aside for future capital upgrades or improvements to our utilities. This year we also approved an impact fee for park land development that assures park land or money is set aside for any new development.

In July, in Malta, New York (population 12,000), a $500,000 multiuse park was built in large part from developers fees -- something on the order of $100 per home sliding upwards into the $1,000's for non-profit, institutional, or business development. At the other end of the size spectrum, the County of Los Angeles Department of Parks and Recreation this year completed a $3.7 million multiuse park in Rowland Heights, California, from money set aside by developers under a county law that requires a certain amount of park acreage for 1,000 residents.

Cities that don't have such agreements in place are working to procure them. Beyond parks and recreation, the cost of providing schools, streets, traffic signals, security, police, fire and other essential services should be passed on to developers, not the present taxpayers.

In one community in California the total impact fee begins at $5,542 for a single housing unit and up to $10,797 for a similar home in a comparable project in a different location if determined that project would cost more to provide. Their basic fee is determined by the distance from the control business district.

If we truly want to adhere to the concept of growth paying for growth, we should consider "all services" provided and pass a fee considerable enough to assure future cost is "paid for".

Mayor Harold L. Rainwater