The impact fee advisory committee agreed to disagree last week and presented two different points of view to the Jones County Board of Commissioners.

Committee Chairman Ted Stone and developer Larry Sheppard were chosen at the committee’s April 9 meeting to be the presenters at Tuesday’s public hearing for the purpose of discussing the pros and cons of impact fees.

As part of the impact fee process, commissioners selected 10 members of the community to serve on the advisory board, and 40 percent of those members were required to be members of the development community.

Last week’s meeting was the final gathering required for the committee, and in addition to Stone and Sheppard, Susan Green, Jon Carter, and Billy Moore were the only ones in attendance. Committee member Mickey Parker is recovering from surgery but sent a letter containing his wishes.

Stone said, as the chairman of the Board of Education, he is involved in setting the tax rate for the school system, and he is concerned that some of the older people in the county are on fixed incomes and cannot afford tax increases.

“Growth has got us in a bad situation. It’s hard to see developers come in here, build houses and leave,” Stone said. “They leave us to provide the services and an awful lot of local costs. To me impact fees are a way to spread the costs and help local taxpayers.

“Yes, we’ve got some people who can’t afford their houses, but that’s bad banking and has nothing to do with impact fees.”

Sheppard said he is worried about the economic downturn of the country.

“I don’t think now is the time to be whipping a dead horse. It’s going to take us a while to come back,” he said and added that he recently lost $165,000 on a house because he kept it too long before he sold it.

Green explained that impact fees are only paid for new construction, and if the economy is not right for development, the fees would have no effect.

“I think a slow time is the right time to implement the new program,” Green suggested. “It will give us time to work into it. When the good times come, the money will be there to support and help service that growth. Property tax increases fail to cover the costs of new development. We need to be team players, and it is only fair for growth to contribute to the cost of that growth.”

Moore stated that the Georgia Department of Transportation will probably take his house when the bypass is constructed around Gray. He said his plan is to find a spot in the middle of a pasture to build his new house.

Sheppard brought up an issue with the impact fees being charged to people living in the county when they build a new home.

Bill Ross III of Ross and Associates was hired to perform a study of the feasibility of impact fees for Jones County in February of 2007. Ross attended last week’s meeting and said making exceptions for those living in the county would be an administrative nightmare.

Sheppard said he has a problem with the terminology of a newcomer, but Ross contended that it is not reasonable to suggest that even half of the 4,000 new dwellings projected to be built by 2030 would be owned by people already living in Jones County.

“It’s more reasonable to think that those homes will be built by people moving into the county,” he said.

Ross told Moore that the value of the impact fee should be added to his house when it is appraised by the GDOT, but developer Jon Carter said that would not happen until the tax assessors’ office began adding the value of the fees to existing properties.

Moore asked, if the commissioners adopt the fees, would they take effect immediately, and Ross said the commissioners can decide.

“Technically, they can make the fee effective any time they want, but it’s not reasonable to wait more than a year because the calculations will be out of date,” Ross said. “The fees may also increase incrementally.”

Moore said he understood the decision was up to the commissioners.

“They can basically do as they see fit,” he said. “Will this help hold ad valorem taxes and keep them from escalating? While serving on the board of equalization, I heard the same story while listening to 2,000 appeals. We need to look at holding ad valorem taxes.”

Ross said his study showed that, without impact fees, Jones County’s tax rate would have to increase 1.5 mills per to keep up with growth.

County Administrator Mike Underwood told committee members that he understands their concerns.

“But until you work in government, you don’t understand the cost of providing services that people expect every day. People come before the commissioners to complain their taxes are too high, but before they leave, ask for their road to be paved and for more deputies,” Underwood said. “We have to find revenues to provide services, and impact fees are a way to bring more revenues into the county. The commissioners look every day for a way to bring in more revenues other than taxes while the state keeps reducing funding for counties.”

Stone agreed and said every time he turns around the schools receive another mandate from the state without money to pay for it.

“Next year we’ll need 11 more school buses, and fuel is $4 a gallon. The state pays nothing,” he noted. “Jones County is a great place to live, but they have found us. We need a method to spread out taxes.

“If you have parents on a fixed income, their taxes doubled last year,” he continued. “Some may have to sell their houses because they can’t afford the taxes. That’s not fair. If new development comes here, it needs to pay for itself.”

Each member of the committee gave their opinion of the fees before a vote was taken.

Carter said he has mixed emotions.

“I understand the need for services, but we have not had professional advice on the other side of the coin. We aren’t alone; other counties are facing the same dilemma,” he said.

Carter said if the issue was past hope, he encourages the commissioners to start with a small fee.

“My first impression is that our committee is a formality because the commissioners are going to do it regardless of what we say.”

Stone said, at the first public hearing, only two people were for it, but most of them were realtors from other counties.

“That bothers me,” he said.

“That’s not me.” Carter responded. “I live here the same as you. I understand what you are saying about education, but impact fees don’t help education.”

Stone said the schools will not receive fee collections directly, but anything that helps the county’s tax base is beneficial to the school system.

Green said she is disappointed with misinformation that has been presented at the meetings.

“It’s my understanding that we already have the rooftops to attract a big box. You can grow and grow but what quality of growth do you have if you can’t provide services?” she asked. “If a one percent fee makes a development unprofitable, you shouldn’t have the development.”

A vote by the committee to support the fees was tied three for and three against when Parker’s letter was included.