10-14-2010, 03:17 PM
quote:That’s the most important point. Right now, all new projects have to be funded from County coffers. If a resort opens in Kona, you have to pay for the County to improve services in Kona because of the impact of that resort.
Originally posted by Aaron S
The question I'd like to pose is this. How should we pay for infrastructure improvements (i.e roads, parks,etc) if impact fees
are not acceptable.
The taxpayers of this county are currently on the hook to pay for these improvements.
Another very important item with Impact Fees is it's not a "General Fund". It's to mitigate the impact of development on community and County. The Bill requires that at minimum 80% of the impact fee must be used in the District where collected. Any money spent out of the District where collected must be based on the impact that development has on the other District. What that means is Hilo may get a few dollars because new residents of Puna may impact service in Hilo when they go there to shop, and Kona may get a buck because people do travel there for whatever reason. But on the flip side, a resort development in Kona may return thousands to Puna because tourist going to see the lava would have a bigger impact on services in Puna.
The bottom line is people have been complaining that developers are not paying for their impact on the community. This fixes the snafu under Fair Share. Unfortunately, the law does not allow the County to only target certain developments. If it has an impact on services, it has to pay it’s fair share.