Higher Development Fees?
06.16.10 8:42 AMFranklin is considering raising development fees, with the stated purpose of covering staff costs associated with processing development reqeusts, such as rezoning. If such fees are raised only to account for the passage of time and "normal" increases, this probably won't present a problem. If, on the other hand, this is just an effort to raise funds, and fees are significantly increased over time, this will be a real burden to smaller projects. Franklin is already an expensive place in which to development, not so much because of fees, but because of the costs of the extensive process and design requirements. An additional consideration is that these fees are paid before a project is approved, and require that a developer invest significant funds with the hope of gaining approval. This likely means that neither investor dollars nor debt financing can be used for these fees. As a result, the start-up costs may deter some development.
Finally, this ignores the significant tax increases resulting from successful development, which fund a significant portion of City services on an ongoing basis through property taxes and, for commercial projects, sales tax revenue.
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