Mead Stops Collecting Fees From Home Builders
After three years of trying to make it work, the Mead School District has dropped a requirement that home builders pay a fee for construction inside its boundaries.
New court cases make it clear that collecting the $700-per-lot fee without a countywide growth management policy is difficult, said Alan Swanson, Mead’s assistant superintendent.
The district quit collecting the fees Oct. 1.
The county commissioners’ pro-growth philosophy and a changing attitude among Mead residents also played into the decision, said Greg Stevens, an attorney who represents the school board.
The district felt its rationale for collecting the fees was sound but that two state Supreme Court decisions make the process more difficult.
“It’s not illegal to collect the fees, but there’s a tremendous administrative burden,” Stevens said.
Two cases handed down last summer cleared up some of the ambiguity.
“The cases swung the balance enough that the district decided it just wasn’t worth it,” Stevens said.
The court made it clear that the district cannot have a blanket fee for all projects. Each proposal must be looked at separately and an individual analysis completed to establish an equitable fee.
The state Growth Management Act allows for flat fees on all projects inside school district boundaries once a comprehensive plan has been adopted by both the school district and county commissioners.
The district is undergoing that process and hopes impact fees can be reinstated, then collected by the county upon issuance of building permits. But it may be three years before the district begins collecting impact fees again.
During the time fees were paid, Mead schools collected $30,000 from developers. The district spent the money on portable classrooms.
The school board has no plans to refund the money.
“They were legal when they were received. There was a binding contract,” said Stevens.
“How in the world do you return it? There’d be a tremendous problem in tracking that.”
, DataTimes