INC NEWS - If development doesn't pay for growth, who does?

[Mike - Hotmail]

Melissa's posting regarding fees and taxes is a good one and each person 
(resident, homeowner, neighborhood person) should read it to get a better 
perspective of the problem we're all facing regarding the demands on roads, 
schools, recreational facilities along with sewer, water resources and 
garbage pick up.

The point that I've seen brought out more than once before has been one that 
"Who pays and who benefits".

For those who have lived in the Triangle for even just a few years,   I have 
a question for you.

Have you seen your services increase and your tax burden decrease?

Or have you seen the reverse?

How about those that have lived here for more than 5 or 10 years?

Have you seen the roads you've driven on, the schools you've sent your kids 
to or the services you've gotten (garbage/yard waste) from the city/county 
improve?

Is it easier to get to work, have you had to face another "school sponsored 
fund raising event", have you heard civil servants want to do more for you 
but can't because their staffing ain't what it used to be?

What ever happened to all the benefits we've been promised by fast growth 
advocates that in allowing things to continue to grow and expand will 
increase our tax base and thus give us more to spend to support that growth?

The fact of the matter is,  it hasn't.

For each new home, office park in the suburbs and big box approval it 
requires a greater demand on several if not most of those services.

In most cases,  new facilities (roads, schools and other infrastructures) 
end up being subsidized substantially by those that have already been here 
but don't necessarily get them.

Asking for "growth to pay for growth" isn't what this is about.

Growth rarely pays for itself.

In fact the only land use that does (that I'm aware of) is farmland!

Let me explain,  impact fees charged to new developments only cover a small 
fraction of the cost of those facilities.   For example,  if a new 
development requires road improvements based on the demands that new 
development creates is $100,000,  the impact fee that Durham charges is 
$25K.

But you ask,  where does the remaining $75 come from.

And currently we (Durham) are only collecting impact fees for things like 
Parks and Recreation and Open Space (now at 30%) along with Transportation 
(25%).

The rest of the cost(s) for everything else comes from you- the tax payer in 
property tax increases (and in a small amount, higher gasoline sales taxes 
along with vehicle registration and other user fees), not counting in Sales 
Tax reimbursements from the State.

Think of all the growth and all the demands those new projects have created 
over the past 5-10 years.   Multiply that by the phenomenal costs that have 
to be paid by us with each project.   Remember that if we didn't build it 
then,  the demand for it didn't just go away.

Deferred maintenance, crumbling infrastructure and the perpetual and 
continuous falling behind in school and road building needs just keeps 
getting worse and worse the longer we fail to come up with the money to pay 
for them.

Just how deep do people who oppose us sharing in the cost of growth expect 
us to bare?

Now you should have a greater appreciation on why many folks now feel it's 
time that growth participate more in paying for growth rather than relying 
mostly on those of us who are currently living here.

Putting limits or prohibitions on future options to force those that benefit 
the most out of new development to share in costs,  in most peoples minds is 
binding our hands while someone else is reaching into our pockets taking out 
our wallets!

mike shiflett





----- Original Message ----- 
From: "Melissa Rooney" <mmr121570 at yahoo.com>
To: <inc-list at durhaminc.org>
Sent: Tuesday, May 29, 2007 5:30 PM
Subject: INC NEWS - Fwd: fees/tax on Developers: it is our right


> Please see my attached email to our NC legislators and
> those on the Senate Finance committee. I urge anyone
> concerned to write these legislators accordingly.
> Thanks
> Melissa
>
> Note: forwarded message attached.
>
>
> ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
> Melissa Rooney, Ph.D.
> Fairfield Community Awareness,
> Communications and INC representative
>
> Durham, NC 27713
> mmr121570 at yahoo.com
> ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
>
>
>
> ____________________________________________________________________________________Get 
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