Goldwater Institute seeks to overturn impact-fee ruling

The Goldwater Institute is asking the state Supreme Court to overturn a November Court of Appeals ruling that validated Mesa's practice of assessing new-home buyers a fee that is used to enhance the city's museums and cultural programs. The Appeals Court committed a "serious legal error," Goldwater attorney Clint Bolick's appeal said, "setting a dangerous and potentially far-reaching precedent for future judicial inquiries into local-government authority." Goldwater, a libertarian-leaning think tank and advocacy group based in Phoenix, believes cultural facilities are not among the "necessary public services" for which the Legislature allows impact fees. In the spring of 2007, Mesa sharply increased its impact fees, raising the cost on a new house to $8,532, broken down into separate pots of money for various city services. The cultural portion of that is $218.

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