Road Impact Fees Undecided

One Vote Separates Yes And No Tallies, With Overseas Ballots To Come

Last updated Tuesday, April 10, 2007 10:20 PM CDT in News

By Dug Begley
The Morning News

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    FAYETTEVILLE -- Whether or not Fayetteville begins assessing road impact fees could hinge on 23 overseas absentee votes.

    Washington County Election Commission Chairman John Logan Burrow announced just before 9 p.m. that Tuesday night's unofficial election results had the proposal to institute road impact fees in Fayetteville ahead by one vote, 2,015 to 2,014.

    "There are 23 overseas absentee ballots still out," Burrow said shortly after reading the results. He added 17 ballots were registered with no votes cast.

    The election will not be certified until April 20, and the overseas ballots have until then to arrive, Burrow said. Election officials in the meantime will do an in-house audit of the election and recount the ballots, as is customary, Burrow said.

    The razor-thin margin left supporters of the proposed road impact fees pleased, but anxiously awaiting the final result.

    "We'll just have to see what happens," said City Council member Lioneld Jordan, a leading proponent of the fees. "But I'll say I've never seen it this close before."

    Pam Jones, chairwoman of Citizens4Fayetteville, the group spearheading the opposition to the impact fees, was unavailable.

    The road impact fees would be assessed on new development throughout the city, based on the type of building constructed. Residential homes of any size will pay a flat fee, and commercial development will be charged based on every 1,000 square feet of space.

    A city estimate found the road impact fee would raise $3.4 million for street improvements annually. The proposal also forced the city to spend the money solely on road projects, and refund it to the person who paid the fee if the money was not used in seven years.

    Supporters said the fees are needed to recoup the extra costs associated with Fayetteville's growth. Proponents said the fees would be fair because those causing the growth, new development, would pay them.

    Critics said the fees would stymie new investment in the city, and in the long run would hurt sales tax revenue. Any decline in sales tax revenue would force the city to increase taxes, thus charging everyone anyway, opponents said.

    Citizens4Fayetteville raised more than $40,000 to oppose the proposed fees, and used campaign signs and television commercials to encourage no votes.

    Supporters of the fees, including a fledgling group, VoteForFayetteville, raised less than $1,000 and concentrated on door-to-door campaigning and word of mouth.

    "We got outspent, but I think we got the message out," Jordan said after the results were announced.

    This is not the only recent Fayetteville election to go down to the wire. Richard Osborne was declared the unofficial winner over Adella Gray for the Ward 1, Position 1 City Council seat by two votes. The next day, an internal audit of the results reversed the election, and Gray was eventually certified the winner by four votes.

    INFOBOX ONE

    By the Numbers

    Should Fayetteville assess a road impact fee on development?

    * Yes: 2,015

    * No: 2,014

    Results unofficial

    Source: Washington County Election Board

    Reader Comments (12 comment(s))


    The following comments are provided by readers and are the sole responsibility of their authors. The Morning News does not review comments before their publication, nor do we guarantee their accuracy. By publishing a comment here you agree to abide by our comment policy. If you see a comment that violates our policy, please notify the web editor.

    little person wrote on Apr 11, 2007 6:44 AM:

    " Hooray for all of the little people who saw through the scare tactics propagated by Citizens4Fayetteville, yard signs, tv and radio blitz, mailings, etc. and got to the heart of the issue:Who's gonna pay? We think we've paid the last several times. This morning, it looks like the developers have to pick up at least part of their own tab. Who says every vote isn't powerful? "

    Orville wrote on Apr 11, 2007 7:38 AM:

    " The results restore my faith in the wisdom of the people. Despite being swamped with near $50,000 of false advertising by the developers and the real estate agents trying to avoid responsibility for sprawl, the voters chose a sensible way to pay for growth, one where the developers pay their fair share. The people also showed the pundits that the Chamber of Commerce and the Arkansas Democrat-Gazette cannot dictate the outcome of local elections. "

    reality 1 wrote on Apr 11, 2007 7:51 AM:

    " "We think we've paid?" You've just begun. Don't be naive in thinking that any new tax like this won't be passed on to people/users like you and me. This elitist class attitude is so transparent. The reality is that this tax costs money. That money will have to come from somewhere. In any scenario, a person will HAVE TO COVER his expenses. The only way to do that is dilute the income (then banks bail), or, charge you and me. The reason this IS AN ISSUE is that the planning commision is SO ADAMANT about letting people know that it's really their land, not the owner's, and they know what's best for us. "

    IdiotsAbound wrote on Apr 11, 2007 8:20 AM:

    " How stupid is this? The developers pass on any fees to consumers. All this does is increase the cost of homes. If you have to LIE in your argument and PRETEND that the big bad developers eat the fees, you must have a false irrational argument. "

    reality 1 wrote on Apr 11, 2007 9:48 AM:

    " Abel.....Actually I have heard that there is a secret nest somewhere near Wilson Park where this cadre of infidels breeds. From there , the young welps go straight to the planning commision for futher indocrination and assignmemts. "

    Active Voter wrote on Apr 11, 2007 10:24 AM:

    " It's either have the developers pass the fees onto the consumers of the new houses in all of the new subdivisions, or have those of us who could not care less about more unstructured growth in this city foot the bill. I chose the former! "

    Conway Alderman wrote on Apr 11, 2007 11:04 AM:

    " We've had impact fees for over three years now, and we have had no new general sales tax increases, we are seeing no decrease in our growth, and we have experienced a substantial increase in our ability to fix roads and create parks for our citizens. Yes, this is somewhat of a hardship on individual home builders and new construction buyers, but the commercial development more than makes up for it. Overall, I believe our citizens are happy with the benefits of our impact fees. "

    Fayetteville wrote on Apr 11, 2007 11:56 AM:

    " All this is going to do is force all development to go somewhere besides Fayetteville. It will also raise everyones property tax, because the new homes being bought will be bought at a higher price since the developers will raise lot costs, therefore builders will raise house costs. I sure am glad i dont live in Fayetteville. "

    Realist wrote on Apr 11, 2007 4:01 PM:

    " Okay, reality1, so this FEE gets passed on to those who are benefitting directly from the growth instead of those of us who could do without it. Your point is? I'd much rather see this imposed than see the sales tax increased yet again which really hurts the lower income people who will never be able to afford a new house in Fayetteville anyway, but are slapped by the sales tax every day when buying essentials. I'm confident the developers and builders are quite adept at "covering their expenses", maybe they could cut fractionally back on their profit margins instead. Have you looked at home prices lately? There is no such thing as affordable housing in Fayetteville anymore as it is. Was it because the growth mongers had a premonition that there might someday be a reasonable fee imposed on them that they prematurely jacked up the prices? Please! "

    tp wrote on Apr 11, 2007 7:30 PM:

    " You know Reality 1, you remind of my neighbor in Fayetteville, a real estate developer who used to constantly praise Bush and tell me what a a fantastic job Rumsfield was doing too. Nobody is listening to you guys anymore, especially us Wilson Park elitists. Speaking of development and roads, how many times have you been stuck in traffic on Greg Street? Annoying isn't it? If it was me I'd tax the developers until they squealed. "

    saywhat2 wrote on Apr 12, 2007 7:51 AM:

    " The degree of isolationist diatribe is stunning.Again the elitist academic dribble.......(you forget to bring up poor people, but you did slam another city or two). "

    Been there wrote on Apr 12, 2007 7:57 AM:

    " So, do those who have the aversion to bringing up the real struggles experienced by low and fixed income families have any clue as to what that side of life is like? I do, and a sales tax increase is no laughing matter. Talk about elitist! "


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