Impact fee increase advised
POST FALLS – Developers of new Post Falls homes would pay $504 more in impact fees per house than they do now under a proposal the Post Falls City Council will consider at a hearing on Tuesday.
The Post Falls Planning Commission has already recommended approval of the $3,172 fee per single-family home. Developers of multifamily housing would be charged $2,457 per unit.
Levels of service, including the amount of park acreage planned per person, have not increased, said Collin Coles, senior Post Falls planner. The fee increases are based on how much more that level of service will cost per additional Post Falls resident.
“Impact fees have been well-received in the community because growth should pay its proportionate share,” Coles said.
The bulk of the fee increase for single-family homes is attributable to parks and the increasing cost of land. Increased costs for street construction and maintenance materials factored into the fee increase as did the costs to operate the newly opened Post Falls Animal Shelter, Coles explained.
Impact fees are also used to pay a portion of the city’s public safety costs.
The fees have been collected since 1998 and were last updated in 2005.
Critics contend higher fees will boost housing costs, since developers are likely to pass the fees on to home buyers. “One of the big issues city officials talk about is affordable housing and how to bring the cost of housing down,” said Scott Krajack, cost estimating manager at Viking Construction. “At the same time they want an impact fee increase.”
The Post Falls Chamber of Commerce hasn’t yet taken a position on the proposed impact fee increase, said past chairman Randy Oaks. The group’s board of directors plans to review the issue soon, Oaks said.
Single-family home development is slowing in Post Falls. Last year 180 permits were issued for single-family homes, compared with almost 280 the year before and nearly 600 in each of the two years before that.
The number of permits doesn’t matter, however, because the impact fee is determined based on the infrastructure needs of the people living in each new home, Coles said. The assumption is that 2.6 people will reside in each house.
Coles said the Post Falls City Council can choose to adopt the fees as recommended, reduce the fees and find other areas of the budget to make up the difference or adjust the level of service the city provides.
Adjusting service levels is an option that should be considered, Krajack said, adding that city officials could determine how much the current fees will buy and plan accordingly instead of picking a level of service and then increasing the fee to meet it.