Impact Fees?

2,913 Views | 24 Replies | Last: 2 yr ago by happyinBCS
MsDoubleD81
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Since I am relatively new to CS, anyone have input on this? Ad popped up when I googled "Aggie Band 4 Way Cross Formation"! On city council agenda for tomorrow, November 22.

https://citizensforcollegestation.com/

COLLEGE STATION CITY HALL IS MAKING A BIG MESS.
It's about to get much bigger and more expensive for the citizens of College Station. The problem is that City Hall is double-dipping their citizens, and the Impact Fees are the mechanism they're using to inflate their budgets.
happyinBCS
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I just emailed each of the council members and asked PLEASE VOTE NO ON IMPACT FEES TOMORROW
UmustBKidding
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And one of them likely will, cunha. Not a chance any of The others will. A good reason to vote in the runoff dec 14 early voting starts nov29
happyinBCS
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I have received a response from Cunha and Brick I will be voting in the runoff but it will probably be a low turnout
BCSWguru
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Stop voting for these morons, lol
dallasiteinsa02
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I have seen presentations from both sides. It is pretty clear that the impact of new homes city wide is offset by the increased taxes. I have asked over and over again.for the math to demonstrate the need. You can't show that the water treatment plant needs $20 million in repairs in 3 years and blame that all on new builds. Give me the data that shows that the new homes are causing an expansion, less the incremental new tax revenue, and I can understand it.

Impact fees are simply an attempt to prop up existing homes values against new construction.
doubledog
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If the developer has not allowed the impact fee in their initial cost/benefit analysis, then I can see a real issue. Proceeding from this point forward, then the impact fee should be applied to manage things like traffic congestion, that their development will have on the local and regional road ways.

Flatlander
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New development increases the tax base and raises property taxes, which results in more money coming into the city. And infrastructure should take advantage of economies of scale--the more expansion there is, the less per-capita should be required to maintain it.

Crompton was on the radio last week talking about how the impact fees are needed to help relieve road congestion. He said there are only 3 possible options: a) impact fees, b) raise the overall tax rate on everyone, or c) live with worsening road congestion. It is interesting that he did not mention a 4th option: Spend the money the city already has more wisely, and prioritize infrastructure needs ahead of all the other things they waste money on. It is disturbing that they do not even consider that as an option.
Koko Chingo
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happyinBCS said:

I have received a response from Cunha and Brick I will be voting in the runoff but it will probably be a low turnout
What was their position?
Chrundle the Great
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Meanwhile they are literally constructing a castle on prime real estate, but oh no w/o impact fees how will we pay for basic services?
happyinBCS
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They did not state their position but like what was previously said Cunha will be the only one that votes against it so let's get more business people on the council Academia folks have no clue how to run a business
Koko Chingo
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That is disappointing. A yes, no, or I don't know is Ok, if they say why they are taking that stance.

By now, I am sure they already know how they are going to vote. To not give a position is a slap in the face to us voters. They are probably checking the pulse to see how many come out to the meeting and speak against the position.... Just like the pay for parking initiative that fell through in the historic district.

I am with you, we need small business owners (who are not looking to financially benefit from their positions) to run for city council.



Captn_Ag05
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I get totally different results when I Google Aggie band four-way
UmustBKidding
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While I agree the current councils slant is problematic they are not the only problem. Several years back the P&Z was holding hearings in regard to the last update of the comprehensive plan one of the new areas included in this update was the Greens Prairie Reserve area owned by two people. Water & Waste water was present and indicated that if the whole area was zoned for high density residential it would require a large infrastructure upgrade costing millions to deal with the volume. They also indicated if half the area was medium density instead of high density that the existing infrastructure was sufficient. But at least at that point P&Z was populated by real estate interest and the decision was f water people they can just figure it out we are making all this high density. Guess what, they had figured it out, requires millions of dollars to upgrade. Does ignoring the staff to help your interest help drive impact fees. You bet it does.
So the issue is not just academics, its members who are looking out for their own interest instead of the good of the residents. What we need is people who understand the duty is to judicially spend the residents money to accomplish the desires and needs of the whole population of residents. Cunha is an example of not needing a PHD to do the job, common sense and listening is what is needed. I hope Lavine is cut from the same cloth but I am certain that he does not buy the parks are as essential as police and fire bs that his opponent spouts.


EliteElectric
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I have seen police and 1st responders stretched, I have never had to wait for a park to clear out so I could use it. Never waited in line for a walking/biking trail. Parks and greenspaces are nice, but I think we should weigh the supply and demand before ever placing emphasis on them
UhOhNoAgTag
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Response received from John Nichols:

It is important to note that impact fees were adopted in 2015 and have been in place since then. We are required by law to update the impact fee study every five years. So that is what is on the City Council's agenda.

Impact fees are one way to pay for the system wide costs of new growth. They do not directly affect any existing properties unless they are redeveloped. Having said that, I understand that there are many different views of how the impacts of new growth on our water, waste water and roadway systems should be financed. We cannot just ignore the congestion or lack of system capacity. Without impact fees, the cost of addressing these new growth related infrastructure demands will have to funded through property taxes across the entire City. I am committed to finding a good balance between property taxes and the level of recovery of impact fees that will serve the City of College Station for the years and decades ahead.

Thanks again for sharing your thoughts.

best regards, John

John Nichols
College Station City Council, Place 5
jnichols@cstx.gov
979.764.3541 (Office)
979.218.9351 (Mobile)
MsDoubleD81
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LOL! It was an ad on one of the links I clicked!!!

Thanks everyone for the input!
happyinBCS
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in his response to me he said "It is true that impact fees do get passed on to home buyers or business customers and the owners of undeveloped land I believe that moderate growth is ahead for the city and will be maintained with moderate use of a combination of property taxes and impact fees " sounds a bit different than his response to you
techno-ag
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Taj Ma City Hall.
Luxury fire stations.
We need more taxes!
Buy a man eat fish, he day, teach fish man, to a lifetime.

- Joe Biden

I think that, to be very honest with you, I do believe that we should have rightly believed, but we certainly believe that certain issues are just settled.

- Kamala Harris
happyinBCS
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watching on channel 19 it is pretty sad
happyinBCS
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it seems to be a fundraising event tor Malony so far
deh40
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Flatlander said:

New development increases the tax base and raises property taxes, which results in more money coming into the city. And infrastructure should take advantage of economies of scale--the more expansion there is, the less per-capita should be required to maintain it.

Crompton was on the radio last week talking about how the impact fees are needed to help relieve road congestion. He said there are only 3 possible options: a) impact fees, b) raise the overall tax rate on everyone, or c) live with worsening road congestion. It is interesting that he did not mention a 4th option: Spend the money the city already has more wisely, and prioritize infrastructure needs ahead of all the other things they waste money on. It is disturbing that they do not even consider that as an option.

Not enough blue stars for this post. Stop spending on parks/bike trails, and over the top fancy fire/police stations and city halls.
Hornbeck
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Seems to me that Mr. Crompton, a Recreation and Parks professor has his loyalties somewhat skewed.
MsDoubleD81
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"The football guy".....was he talking about Hunter Goodwin?!
PS3D
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Flatlander said:

New development increases the tax base and raises property taxes, which results in more money coming into the city. And infrastructure should take advantage of economies of scale--the more expansion there is, the less per-capita should be required to maintain it.

Crompton was on the radio last week talking about how the impact fees are needed to help relieve road congestion. He said there are only 3 possible options: a) impact fees, b) raise the overall tax rate on everyone, or c) live with worsening road congestion. It is interesting that he did not mention a 4th option: Spend the money the city already has more wisely, and prioritize infrastructure needs ahead of all the other things they waste money on. It is disturbing that they do not even consider that as an option.

Pretty much all of the major city roads are operated by TxDOT in some capacity, yet CoCS gets the blame for any construction problems there. There are a few exceptions, like Rock Prairie Road (currently building a longer left turn lane at Wellborn; at the expense of adding a median near the gas stations), but I do remember the rebuilding of Longmire and Rock Prairie completed in less time than people were complaining about it.

Not that CoCS is great at road infrastructure, the construction company that built the portion of Graham Road near Longmire did such a poor job that the road had to be rebuilt just a decade later, and their failure to build workable alternative outlets to Wellborn, Texas Avenue, or the highway (missing the boat on making Welsh or Dexter viable corridors from campus to even Southwest Parkway, or the whole Munson debacle) have cost more long-term.


happyinBCS
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I watched the joke of a meeting for 5 hours and they were throwing around money like it was a fun exercise. The majority of the council does not have any business or real-world experience. As has been said before on this board throw all of them out and try again. I think although it was hard to listen to, Impact fees were raised 10%
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