3/15/2010 6:00:00 AM
City impact fee update slated
Decision on how room tax is allocated also expected
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KINGMAN - Fees, taxes and grants will dominate the agenda at Monday's meeting of the Kingman City Council.
Council members will first revisit the issue of impact fees, with Finance Director Coral Loyd set to give a report updating them on how much has been collected and spent through the city's four-year-old policy. The policy, which requires builders to pay for the perceived impact their new construction will have on the city's infrastructure, has long been criticized as a deterrent to new businesses relocating to the city, particularly during the current economy.
Several sitting Council members, as well as all three newcomer Council candidates, have expressed an interest in either reducing or abolishing the fees, though that may be easier said than done, as some of the fees are already tied up or intended for future capital improvement projects, which Loyd is expected to address.
Council will also revisit where it allocates the city's recently-raised 4 percent hotel bed tax. Currently, half the tax goes to pay for the Economic Tourism and Development Commission's operations, with the other half designated for future capital projects. At the March 1 Council meeting, Councilwoman Carole Young expressed a desire to reallocate part of the tax for the recently-formed Economic Development and Marketing Commission, which was designed in part to take over economic duties from the ETDC. The EDMC is currently unfunded, and must approach Council to request contingency funds for any endeavors it wishes to pursue.
A separate item on the agenda will also address the redundancy between the names of the ETDC and the EDMC. The item proposes changing the ETDC to simply the Tourism Development Commission, or TDC, removing the overlapping reference to economic development
responsibilities now assumed by the EDMC.
Finally, Council will select which projects it wants to submit for the city's 2010 Community Development Block Grant regional account application. The city is eligible to receive $597,340 in CDBG funds, and has a list of ten eligible projects it can submit.
A government program dating back to 1974, CDBG is a way of providing federal and state funding for community development projects in large and small cities alike. Of the eligible projects listed, city staff is recommending Council choose four water and sewer line improvement projects at Park Avenue and Commercial, the Richard/Smith Addition, First Street and Spruce and Goldroad Alley. Staff's recommendation would also call for $30,818 in housing rehabilitation funds.
Monday's meeting begins at 6 p.m. in Council Chambers at 310 N. Fourth St. For full agenda details visit www.cityofkingman.gov and click on "Agendas, Minutes and Video."
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Posted: Wednesday, March 17, 2010
Article comment by:
Bart S
Does anyone seriously think the City of Kingman's impact fees are the reason for the downturn in local construction activity? If so, why is construction down in unincorporated Mohave County and in other cities in our area that do not have impact fees?
Posted: Monday, March 15, 2010
Article comment by:
Web Dawg
I've been a landowner here since 1984 and this city government just gets worse each and every year.
Posted: Monday, March 15, 2010
Article comment by:
herbera schroeder
They passed it as capital improvements. Six weeks after it starts Carol Young wants to change where it gets spent? No Way. I did not start paperwork to get it put on the voting ballot because it would have cost the City and taxpayers money. I begrudgingly accepted that it would go towards capital improvements. Now, someone wants to change the rules after 6 weeks have passed and the time limit to stop it all together? THAT IS JUST WRONG!!!!!!!!!
Posted: Monday, March 15, 2010
Article comment by:
ica rus
"Impact fees" should be written "seef tcapmI" because they're so backwards. It's absolutely one of the most counterproductive ideas ever.
Posted: Monday, March 15, 2010
Article comment by:
dwayne jones
impact fees need to go down or better yet go away lets get kingman moving new homes and so on jobs
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