Macon Telegraph

Jones County has decided to explore the strange (at least for Middle Georgia) new world of impact fees, and not a second too soon. The county has hired a consulting firm to help it navigate the many issues that encompass impact fees.

Basically, impact fees help pay for infrastructure that's needed for certain developments. For example, someone wants to build 100 homes. How does that affect roads, water and sewage? An impact fee would help offset the costs to upgrade, for example, the county's water treatment plant, pay for roads and could pay for an additional fire station.

According to impactfees.com, about 60 percent of all cities over 25,000 in population use some form of impact fees. Twenty-six states have enacted legislation to authorize the fees.

Commissioners realize that Jones County is not the sleepy little city that it was just 10 years ago. Growth has hit the area, big time. Without exploring new ways to pay for infrastructure, the burden falls back on property taxpayers who end up funding infrastructure improvements made necessary by others.

One big question in the minds of commissioners has already been answered to a degree: Do impact fees slow development and growth? According to the counties contacted, the answer is "no." That said, the consultant should be able to drill into those responses to quantify and verify those answers.

The county's decision to include various stakeholders at the beginning of the process is a wise move. The consultant, Ross & Associates, will work with a 10-member committee made up of residents, developers and county officials.

While impact fees have been suggested in other Middle Georgia counties, the nagging thought that such fees would stifle development has won out. However, that idea negates the basic rule of location, location, location. While it might cost more to build where fees are required, the likelihood that the development would be a success in a prime area is also greater. Besides, the real cost of the impact fees is spread out among end users of the developers' project instead of being handed to the already established tax base.

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