Will impact fees adversely affect growth in Utah?

• Author: McKAY, GLEN
• Position: Brief Article

YES Several years ago the federal government participated in various infrastructure projects on a local level throughout the country. But as federal dollars dried up, the cost to fund these projects fell entirely on local government. Thus, municipalities established impact fees to provide a source of revenue to fund future development.

Local government basically had two choices as to who should pay for these costs: voters or developers. Developers took the hit. When a developer begins a project he now incurs various connection and impact fees, For the most part, developers realize this is a necessary evil and a cost that trickles down to the end user (homeowners and/or tenants). The problem, however, occurs when local governments abuse the process of assessing impact fees.

At times, impact fees have become a catchall for city budget overruns. However, the state legislature recently issued a statement saying the cost of development could not be borne only by the...