Editorial - April 2003

Let growth pay for growth in N.C.

Published April 9, 2003

Expect to hear more about impact fees as a local funding strategy in North Carolina. It’s already in place in many other states and it is generally viewed as one of the best ways to put a tax directly on those who stand to profit from the development that ultimately means more public expense for infrastructure, such as water, sewer, roads and sidewalks.

Simply put,  impact fees make growth pay for growth.

Lincoln County Building and Land Development officials presented the impact fee option and several other options at a planning session with county leaders last week.

Impact fees are charged directly to new development. In some states they become part of the cost of a new house or a new business. They are designed to directly offset the capital costs that the development has caused or impacted.

But in North Carolina local governments have to get approval from the N.C. General Assembly, and local officials say lawmakers often oppose the fees. Saving voters from new taxes, they might say. But the fact is local governments such as Lincoln County HAVE to find a revenue source somewhere. If alternative sources are not made available, they will have to turn again to the old standby — the property tax. The unfairness of this should be obvious. Retired, fixed-income homeowners who no longer have children in schools should not have to pay for the new streets, sewer, waterlines etc. that will be used long after they are dead and gone. Through a lifetime of paying taxes, they have paid their fair share.

The North Carolina General Assembly should see impact fees as a solution, not a liability. Unfortunately, there is an element in every elected body that cries “no new taxes” without carefully looking at the issues before them.  When they take that tact, are they really saying “keep using the old taxes?”

Of course, the building industry will oppose impact fees and launch their own propaganda campaign about deflating values and discouraging growth. Similar arguments have been made, and discarded, in other states.

 Local lawmakers must step up to the plate and help Lincoln County find ways to raise revenues. North Carolina’s failure to modernize its own taxation apparatus is in part responsible for the budgetary problems it faces today. If steps are not taken to help local governments with modern ways to deal with growth, their budget process will wind up in the same quagmire.

© 2001 Lincoln Times-News  

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