While I wasn't able to attend the Land Use meeting where impact fees were discussed, I watched and it was appalling to see how people twisted themselves to justify under-collecting impact fees from the developers for new developments. And again, today in the budget workshop, we saw some people trying to excuse or obfuscate the real world impact of undercollecting impact fees - a cut to our Capital Improvement Plan, and deferral of a number of projects. These delays further risk exposing us to runaway inflation. Several projects that have already been deferred would have been far cheaper if we had funded and executed them several years ago.
As a refresher, understand that impact fees pay for new roads/transportation, law enforcement, new parks, new libraries and more. And yet, we have not been collecting the full amount of these fees from developers, because of some flimsy reasons - basically, the developers have far too much influence on our county's operations and they don't want to pay. That's the quiet part not said out loud. And it's only going to get worse as this historically high inflation drives the cost of everything up, and we will be stuck collecting fees at ridiculously antiquated rates for four years.
That means that the existing taxpayer base will be called upon to fund these items from our general revenue or reserves. YOUR TAX DOLLARS will fund new roads, law enforcement, etc. instead of getting a fair amount from the people profiting from the new development. The developers know that while politicians can ignore a certain amount of screaming from the public, the public is serious when the screaming is about traffic, crime, etc. and they will pony up the dollars to pay for the infrastructure that the developers wouldn't pay for up front.
Understand that the impact fees are actually FEES, not a tax. The fees are charged in exchange for a service - road, law enforcement, utilities, etc. - and not a tax to increase general revenue. We want to keep our taxes as low as possible, but that won't be possible if we keep privileging the few making all the cash from new development and subsidizing their expansion.
The thousands of homes going up in East County are going to put a strain on our roads, and especially on our water systems. I am already hearing people talk about their well water being really low in this drought. Well, let's just add on another 20,000 homes to that, what a brilliant idea! (Please note that that last line was sarcasm.) And, since the Board decided against using the Musgrave property as a central facility for the sheriff and (and expanding the landfill), response times may be longer for emergencies out east.
This madness has to stop. People are crying out against this mismanagement and it's being ignored... but it won't be ignored in November. If elected, I will do what is best for our county to keep our fiscal house in order, and respond to your complaints with honesty and transparency - stuff that we are supposed to expect from conservative leadership.
Let's make sure that I get to be your Republican candidate in November. I need your vote in the Republican Primary on August 20. The last day to ensure that you are registered as a Republican is July 22. Let's make it happen!