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George's Information and Comments Growth Impact Action Committee ________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________ |
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Editorial: Vote for Impact Fees -- George Edwards, GIAC Founder and Webmaster
2/12 Update: (Click below) :Postscript -- Desirable Impact Fee Associated S.C. State Law Changes Summary Don't be bamboozled! Vote in your own best interests. Don't let the big moneyed interests buy your vote with repeated radio ads and full page newspaper advertisements misrepresenting facts. The Home Builder's Association has a special interest in opposing anything that could possibly cut into its members' profits. In the case of the real estate officials, I believe their stand is reflexive rather than well reasoned in that the continually increased taxes caused by not requiring developers and hence newcomers to pay for the new infrastructure they require will deter homebuyers in the longer run. Property Taxes with and without Impact Fees The last minute straw that the opposition has come up with is the assertion that new home price increases caused by impact fees will result in higher assessed values for all of us. If this could be the case, at least any such increases could go to the common good, not to infrastructure that we would not otherwise need. Regardless, let's put this in perspective --
An opponent could argue properly that the $630 figure above includes the price of new schools. That is true. But, however you put figures together, the cost to existing taxpayers will be less if impact fees are imposed so that developers pay the increased cost of infrastructure including that for schools, fire, and police protection. Click here if you want to return to the top of this page. It is disgraceful that current S.C. State law does not provide for impact fees for new school construction required by population growth and not necessary to meet the needs of current citizens. Current S.C. law also precludes impact fees for capital assets less than $100,000 and those with less than a five year life -- thus excluding, for instance, police cars. Click here if you want to return to the top of this page. Current S.C. Law Does Not Provide for Impact Fee Relief for Established Horry County Residents Proponents and opponents of impact fees agree that not excluding established residents from paying impact fees on new homes or reimbursing them is wrong. It defeats the appropriate purpose of impact fees -- to transfer costs due to newly required infrastructure from those who do not require new infrastructure to those who do. We already have a precedent -- elderly homeowners can get a significant tax break by proving they are established Horry County residents. Click here if you want to return to the top of this page. Will Impact Fees make Homes Less Affordable? They need not make homes less affordable for established Horry County residents as described in the above section. Also, give me a break -- would a $750 impact fee spread across a thirty year mortgage have appreciable effect -- $4.50 per month at 6%? Whatever the impact fee, if S. C. law allowed impact fees to be paid according to ability to pay -- as the rest of us pay taxes -- in proportion to the assessed value of a home, the effect on lower valued homes could even be further lowered.. Click here if you want to return to the top of this page. What will Impact Fees Pay For? Impact fees will pay for new or expanded public facilities required by new building construction that would not otherwise be required. The current impact fee statute requires that impact fees actually be refunded if not used within three years of when the precise new public facility is scheduled. This requires planners to have a crystal ball or to construct some public facility -- with everyone's taxes -- prematurely or improperly located. A more sensible more equitable protection in a newly framed statute is simply to require that impact fees be set-aside for the type of facility for which they were imposed. Current residents pay for facilities wherever and whenever they are required. Click here if you want to return to the top of this page. Conclusion: Empower Change -- Vote for Impact Fees Impact fees only make good sense. They are in current homeowners' interests and they are only fair. We need an overwhelming vote in favor of impact fees to send the message to Horry County Council, Horry County Schools and the S.C. Legislature. There are many things in S.C. state law that should be changed in order to make them fair to all. The Horry County Council and Horry County Schools need encouragement and they desperately need your help in convincing a S.C. State legislature that has not, heretofore, established laws that accord with the needs of Horry County and fairness to its citizens. Impact Fee Referendum Question as it Appears on the Ballot Horry County Question No. 1 (Advisory) Do you favor the imposition of impact fees by Horry County? Definition: "Development" means construction or installation of a new building or structure, or the change in use of a building or structure, any of which creates additional demand and need for public facilities. A building or structure shall include, but not be limited to, modular buildings and manufactured housing. "Development" does not include alterations made to existing single family homes. (emphasis added) Postscript -- Desirable Impact Fee Associated S.C. State Law Changes Summary
1. Include new school construction
2. Remove the five year life restriction
3. Remove or lower the $100,000 limit on new equipment 4. Exclude established residents buying new homes from paying impact fees or allow/enact measures to reimburse them (similar to the homestead exemption)
5. Remove the requirement for the county to repay
"unused" impact fees (simply require that they be set aside for the type of
facility for which they were imposed)
6. Base impact fees on the cost of public facilities that
were ascribed to being required to meet the needs for new development when
they were built or purchased as well as those currently planned for that
purpose,
rather than exclusively on a capital improvement plan.
Either delete the capital improvement plan requirement or restrict its scope
to only truly meaningful detail. For details click
"Capital Improvement
Plan Alternate."
7. No reassessment until sale (in this context, to remove
the argument that impact fees will increase assessed values and thus taxes on
all property)
Click here if you want to return to the top of this page or click here to return to "Where now for Tax Relief" or click here to return to the "Impact Fees" main page.
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