Wednesday, May 9, 2001
|
Wednesday, May 9, 2001 |
|
County has begun levy of fire svc. impact fees By DAVE
HAMRICK
After more than a year of study, discussion, negotiation and paperwork, impact fees to help pay for fire services in Fayette County are now a reality. Developers Monday began paying the fees for each new home, business or industry. County commissioners, in a special called meeting Friday, approved the final paperwork, paving the way for charging the fees to help defray the cost of new county fire services made necessary by growth. Developers will pay $600.57 for each new home they build. Builders of new businesses and industries will pay on a sliding scale based upon their size and type. Fayette's Department of Fire and Emergency Services already has begun construction of four new fire stations, and the cost of those projects will be supplemented by the impact fees. By state law, the fees can only be used to cover the portion of the cost that can be attributed to future growth. Officials are hoping to collect about $16.7 million over the 20-year life of the impact fees to help repay the debt on the fire stations and for future equipment needs. The county also had considered charging impact fees to help pay for a new county jail, but an agreement between the county and its cities to govern those fees bogged down in a dispute over the county's plan to levy additional per diem charges to keep municipal prisoners in the jail.
|
||