Commission wary of impact fees
By Steve Herring
Published in News on December 26, 2014 1:46 PM
Some members of the Wayne County Board of Commissioners are concerned impact fees that could be charged for infrastructure improvements at new highway interchanges could stifle development.
At a recent meeting, it did not take long for commissioners to detour from a discussion of a study on how to provide water and sewer to the U.S. 70 bypass and I-795 interchanges to talking about the potential harm impact fees could have.
An impact fee is what a business or industry would have to pay to have water and/or sewer services extended to their place of business.
After listening to discussion of a study on the costs of running water and sewer lines to the new interchanges, commissioners heard about the possible drawbacks from charging businesses for the infrastructure.
Matthew West of the planning firm Dewberry told commissioners that the study would be used to estimate water and sewer demand for each interchange area and to estimate the size of water and sewer lines based on that demand.
He said Dewberry said he would meet with water and sewer providers, whether it's the city of Goldsboro or one of the county's sanitary districts.
That's when the conversation took a turn. West said the study would also address any impact fees associated with those connections.
It is not the first time that some commissioners have voiced concern about impact fees and the county's sanitary water districts.
Commissioners unsuccessfully tried twice in 2013 to convince the county's legislators to introduce local bills in the General Assembly that would allow a majority of the commission to change sanitary district lines in the county.
Commissioner Joe Daughtery brought up the issue in February 2013, and former Commissioner Steve Keen tried to revive it in October of that same year.
At that time, Keen said he was not attempting to take control of the districts. Rather, he said he was concerned that the districts' sewer impact fees could slow development.
Commissioner Ray Mayo asked West about the cooperation he was receiving and West credited County Planner Connie Price for inviting all of the potential providers and others to a kickoff meeting where lines of communications were established.
But Commissioner Joe Daughtery said he was still worried about the impact fees.
"The reason that there is a red flag that comes to mind here is that a lot of the future economic viability of Wayne County is going to rest on your map with all of those stars (showing the interchanges). From what I am seeing here, that is really outside the control of this board. It really rests in the hands of the municipalities and sanitary districts. Am I correct?"
"I think you are correct," West said. "My understanding is that the county does not own any water or wastewater system."
That is not a problem, Daughtery said, except when it comes into conflict with impact fees that could dissuade business and industry from coming into the county.
Daughtery asked West how that concern would fit into the scope of the study.
West said the fees had been identified as a concern during meetings with county staff. The study will obtain and document all of that fee information, he said. The study will not look at possible future fees, but will document what fees are currently charged, he said.
"But as far as making recommendations as to how that may impact development, that was not part of our scope," West said.
"When you get down to the final analysis, it really comes down to two ways of funding," County Manager George Wood said. "If you don't use impact fees, then essentially you are spreading the cost of your capital expenditure across your entire customer base, which means that your rates go up -- your monthly charges to your customers have to go up to generate the money to pay off debt service that you borrow to put it in the ground.
"The other theory is that those who create the need for the extension should pay for it. That is where you get into the impact fee structure. So it is really a philosophical question of who should pay and who benefits. Then there are possible grants and loans."
Daughtery said his concern is that industries or investments at those interchanges not be "unduly burdened." Looking forward those areas are the county's future tax base and source of sales tax revenues, he said.
Mayo said he agreed and that he had heard of where impact fees were not conducive to small businesses being able to start.
Mayo said he wanted to give everyone trying to start a business in the county a level playing field.
"The small business should not have to pay an impact fee like Walmart, for example, or even close to that," Mayo said. "The person who has a small business and cannot afford to start it because of impact fees, that is a problem."