Why should you vote yes to repeal the city of Hailey's development impact fees? Because it's an unfair tax. In 2007, Hailey decided it needed additional funds (which all cities do) but instead of bringing bond and levy proposals to a vote, so that we the people could decide what we need and where our money should go, the city passed a development impact fee, which charges additional fees for new construction.
In an undeveloped area this fee, right or wrong, is a plausible idea. But in an existing subdivision, people have already paid for subdivision charges and hookup fees that are designed to cover, and have been covering until 2007, the "impact" of growth. The development impact fee penalizes those people who have waited to build or could not afford to build on their property by paying a fee their neighbors did not have to pay.
I am attempting to build a shop in one of the few remaining undeveloped lots in the Woodside industrial area. My building permit fee was an additional (unbudgeted) $7,800. No one else in the industrial park has paid any impact fees to date, including Power Engineers, an international company earning millions and accounting for much of the traffic impact.
The impact fee hurts low- and middle-income families by having to pay the same fee regardless of the size of their house being built. A small starter home pays the same as a mansion.
If a business retrofits an existing building for a use under the impact fee ordinance, why is it not subject to the fee even though it would increase impact on traffic, fire and police? A former private residence turned business pays no impact fee.
Please join me this November by voting yes on the referendum to repeal Hailey's development impact fees and show our city government that we demand a fair means to support growth.
Robert E. Wiederrick
Hailey
