Ada’s Impact Fees Could Be Used In Rest Of State

The impact fees used in Ada County since 1992 to tax new construction could spread to the rest of the state.

A House subcommittee on Friday approved legislation that would allow all counties, not just the state’s largest, to use impact fees to pay for facilities required by growth.

Competing legislation, designed to tax new homes and apartments to pay for schools, was rejected by a subcommittee of the House Revenue and Taxation Committee.

A hearing before the subcommittee produced a split between city and county associations, which endorsed the bill, and business interests, which opposed it.

Susan Rowe, a representative of Micron Technology Inc., said her fast-growing microchip manufacturing company paid a total of $1.2 million in 1994 to the Ada County Highway District. “There have not been significant improvements in our area,” paid by the highway district, she said.

Any road improvements in the area of Micron’s headquarters on the outskirts of Boise have been paid by the state Transportation Department or private interests, she said.

The full Revenue and Taxation Committee will act on the legislation later. The subcommittee voted to reject a bill sponsored by Rep. Milt Erhart, R-Boise, proposing a tax of up to $875 on new homes or apartments to finance school construction.

He said it was not an impact fee, but other witnesses said no matter what Erhart called it, it still was an impact fee.