County commissioners’ latest attempt to resuscitate the housing market with a dose of taxpayer money is spurring some sharp words.
After commissioners voted 2-1 last week to freeze a set of county development fees that pay for new roads, Commissioner Steve Stuart called it a dubious handout to builders.
The move “could cost taxpayers up to $21 million in road work that won’t be paid for by the developers,” Stuart said. “That’s not something I can support.”
A county manager said that though Stuart’s figures are correct, taxpayers would only lose the full $21 million if home building were to suddenly surge back to 2006 levels.
Stuart backed a similar fee freeze last year. That freeze, which held down development costs by up to several thousand dollars per single-family home, expired Jan. 1.
“This is something that was meant to be short-term stimulus — worth trying, but not worth repeating,” Stuart said. “We don’t even know if it worked.”
Commissioner Tom Mielke, who joined with Commissioner Marc Boldt to extend the existing fee freeze, called it necessary.
“If you charge me these fees now, I can’t expand or build, which means that he can’t create jobs,” Mielke said Tuesday. “We have got to be leading ourselves out of this instead of just riding the bad times out.”
Mielke and Boldt are Republicans, Stuart a Democrat. Stuart faces re-election in November.
Mielke acknowledged that the new fee freeze, which will expire in January 2011, might not work any better than the last one.
“To do nothing would be wrong,” Mielke said. “I would rather move ahead and fail than do nothing and fail.”
Mielke, who has pledged not to support tax hikes, said taxpayers should cover more of the cost of building roads and schools for new developments.
“If it’s to the benefit of the public, the public should pay for it,” Mielke said.
Cash-flow boost
Steve Schulte, a transportation manager for Clark County Public Works, said he doesn’t expect development fees to bring in much money this year no matter how low they get.
“Development isn’t coming in,” Schulte said.
As a result, Schulte said, the lower fees aren’t likely to cost the public anywhere close to the $21 million that’s possible.
But even if a few more houses do go up because of the lower fees, Schulte said, taxpayers might actually come out ahead.
That’s because the weak construction market has made road-building projects much cheaper. If the county gets a few more fee dollars this year, it could do more road work before construction prices rebound.
“We could have less impact-fees coming in long term, but we’d have better cash flow in 2010,” Schulte said. “It’s valuable.”
Boldt said that’s why he decided to vote for the new fee freeze.
“I’m thinking it’ll equal out and we can at least get some building,” Boldt said.
Michael Andersen: 360-735-4508 or michael.andersen@columbian.com.
