As I've been circulating petitions calling for the repeal of Hailey's development impact fees, I've become aware that the average citizen in Hailey not only does not know what this fee is, but that it exists at all. I am not surprised. The voters never got to vote on this because this ordinance was created, passed and adopted by the Hailey City Council and then Mayor Susan McBryant back in May 2007.
The city did not go to any great lengths to publicize what it was doing and caught many people, even those in the building trades, unaware of its existence or implications. Had the city received more public input, it may not have adopted this ordinance at all because it has been shown to be unconstitutional and amounts to an illegal tax, as explained in a recent court case.
The McCall housing ordinance was overturned for reasons that speak directly to Hailey's development impact fees. As 4th District Judge Thomas F. Neville ruled, "The city of McCall is attempting to have growth in McCall pay for growth. Whatever benefit the landowner receives is no different than a benefit received and shared by the public at large. The lack of affordable workforce housing is a problem for which the public should bear the cost to remedy rather than imposing the burden on a few landowners or developers. Therefore, the purpose of a subsidy or fee ... is for the benefit of public services at large rather than a benefit to the individual assessed."
If you were to substitute "city of Hailey" for "city of McCall" and substitute "the need to fund capital improvements" for "the lack of affordable workforce housing," the principle would remain the same. I may have lost some of you there. Development impact fees are used as a funding source for capital improvements and that is why they amount to an illegal tax, as explained by Judge Neville.
If you live in Hailey and are a registered voter, please sign my petition so we can remove this ordinance before the city gets sued and a lot of taxpayer money gets wasted on legal fees that are sure to come from challenges to this illegal ordinance.
I can be reached at my business during regular business hours at 788-0018.
Robert (Bob) Wiederrick
Hailey
