City faces losing cash for projects

Casa Grande is doing a development impact fee study and drawing guidelines to meet requirements of a new state law pushed through the Arizona Legislature by homebuilders and developers to limit what fees may be charged and how the city may use the money. Casa Grande has used the fees for part of the cost of some street work, expanding the Len Colla Recreation Center, the new Public Safety Facility and a new fire station. It had planned to use some of the funds for expanding the Main Library. The law, SB1525, requires that after Jan. 1, the city must follow the new definitions of “necessary public services,” meaning uses for which it can and cannot levy fees. By Aug. 1, 2014, the city must be in full compliance with the law. After Jan. 1, the city has 10 years to complete any project for which it has earmarked impact fees in full or in part. Wastewater project spending would be limited to 15 years. However, if a bond issue debt is still being paid on a project, such as the city’s wastewater treatment plant expansion, the fees may continue to be charged for that. Whether that creates a loophole the city could use by issuing debt in advance of a project remains unclear. “What if we issued debt to go ahead and build it and then we collect the impact fees over a period of time associated with it?” City Manager Jim Thompson said about possible future projects during a City Council study session. “Some of those issues are still debated, it’s a gray area, so we’re challenged by some of those.”

Click here to view this article from its source.