How To Administer
Impact Fees After The
Consultants Are Gone
Steven M. Pedretti, Sacramento County California
Maureen Zamarripa, Sacramento County California
Monica Daniels Mika, Weld County Colorado
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This presentation is designed to
provide a practical approach to
impact fee program
management.
Sacramento County, California
Weld County, Colorado
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Weld County
Impact Fee Total of $3310
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Sacramento
Impact Fee Total up to $62,314
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A
CALIFORNIA
APPROACH
SACRAMENTO
COUNTY
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Infrastructure Finance in
Sacramento County
• History
• Financing Solutions to the
Infrastructure Puzzle
• Program Development
• Program Implementation
• Program Administration
• Lessons Learned
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History in Sacramento
1986 County Population 1.03M
1986 Unincorporated Population 625,000*
2006 County Population 1.4M
2006 Unincorporated Population 560,000
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Financing Puzzle
• Land Secured Financing Tools
– Mello-Roos Community Facilities
Districts
– Assessment Districts
– Development Impact Fees
– Developer Funded
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Unincorporated Area
Impact Fees
Impact fees (residential)
• Sewer collection
• Sewer treatment
• Water supply
• Stormwater
• Roads
$1,853
$7,371
$9,692
$1,500
$2,247
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Unincorporated Area Fees
• In use 40+ years
• Department driven
• Only “backbone” facilities are
funded
• Credits against fees given to
developers who construct
backbone facilities
• Reimbursement occurs as funds
are available
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History of Infrastructure
Finance
• Infrastructure Finance Section
– 14 staff devoted to working with
service providers and the
development community
– Plan Area Fees-IFS specialty
– In existence for 20 years
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SACRAMENTO COUNTY FEE COMPARISON
CHART
$70,000
$60,000
Swainson's Hawk
Mitigation
$50,000
Community Amenities
$40,000
Underground
$30,000
Road and Transit
$20,000
Adm inistration
$10,000
$0
Antelope
(1986)
EGWV
(1994)
Vineyard
(2006)
NVS
(2006)
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ANTELOPE CAPITAL IMPROVEMENT PROGRAMS
$60,000,000
$50,000,000
$40,000,000
Community Amenities
$30,000,000
Road & Transit
Underground
$20,000,000
$10,000,000
$0
FACILITIES COMPONENTS
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ANTELOPE DEVELOPMENT IMPACT FEES
$4,000
$3,500
$3,000
$2,500
$2,000
$1,500
$1,000
$500
$0
IMPACT FEE COMPONENTS
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ELK GROVE/WEST VINEYARD CAPITAL
IM PROVEM ENT PROGRAM S
$350,000,000
$300,000,000
$250,000,000
Community Amenities
$200,000,000
Road & Transit
$150,000,000
Underground
$100,000,000
$50,000,000
$0
FACILITIES COMPONENTS
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ELK GROVE/WEST VINEYARD DEVELOPMENT IMPACT FEES
$12,000
$10,000
$8,000
$6,000
$4,000
$2,000
$0
IMPACT FEE COMPONENTS
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NORTH VINEYARD STATION DEVELOPMENT
IMPACT FEES
$70,000
$60,000
$50,000
$40,000
$30,000
$20,000
$10,000
$0
IMPACT FEE COMPONENTS
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NORTH VINEYARD STATION CAPITAL IM PROVEM ENT
PROGRAM S
$300,000,000
$250,000,000
$200,000,000
Administration
Swainson's Hawk
$150,000,000
Community Amenities
Road & Transit
Underground
$100,000,000
$50,000,000
$0
FACILITIES COMPONENTS
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Capital Improvement Program
Development (CIP)
– Developer driven-reactive workresponding to customer needs
– Determine facilities/infrastructure
needed
– Determine timeline for needed
infrastructure
– Develop facility estimates-work with
service providers
– Piece the infrastructure financing puzzle
together
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Program Implementation
• Review with Service Providers and
gain participation for outreach
process
• Present to the Building Industry
Association
• Present to engineers, architects,
contractors, community groups
• Board of Supervisors Approval
• Work with staff-calculation and
collection efforts
• Publish and post program notices
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Program Administration
• Regular review of program
– Facility cost estimates
– Development base
– Service provider coordination
– Reporting mechanisms
– Overall program health
– Be prepared to quantify impacts
on specific projects for Board
consideration
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Weld County
Colorado
Funds Collected
Transportation Impact Fees
January 2000 – September 2006
$ 7,292,118.00
Stormwater/ Drainage Impact Fees
August 2005 – September 2006
$
105,511.00
$
309,982.00
Capital Expansion Impact Fees
August 2005 – September 2006
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Weld County Per Housing
Unit Impact Fees
Road Impact Fee
$1,987.00
Capital Expansion Fee
$575.00
Storm water Drainage Fee (if applicable)
$748.00
Total Impact Fees
$3,310.00
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Weld County Transportation
Impact Fee Program
¾ Started in 1999 for select area of
Weld County.
¾ Program modified in 2003 for County
wide application.
¾ Applies only to strategic roads
¾ Distribution of funds is based on
benefit areas.
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Historical
data
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Present data
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Weld County
Stormwater Impact Fee
¾ Funds for regional drainage
projects
¾ Monies collected in urban
areas
¾ Some exempt structures
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Capital Expansion Fee
¾ Need for capital expansion
New growth and development
requires expansion in Countyowned improvements.
Jail
General Government Services
Single Family
$575 per unit
Commercial - Industrial $95/ 1000 sq.
Agricultural
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Program Implementation
¾ Set up Impact Fee Board
¾ Get Local Home Builders Association
on board
¾ Advertise, Advertise, Advertise

Newspaper

Public Meetings

Notice at counters

Notice on building permits
¾ Tell everyone who wants to hear
¾Get staff involved at the beginning
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Program Administration
¾ Give staff ownership
¾ Prior to starting the adoption process
¾ Get the right staff involved
¾ Empower staff
¾ Know your organization’s future needs
¾ Be able to explain need
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Elected Officials
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¾
¾
¾
Review regulations on a regular basis
Show public outreach information
Discuss appeal process
Educate about roles in the appeals
process
¾ Have attorney conduct a short staff
training with board to discuss
Staff responsibilities
Elected official role
Possible outcomes
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What to do when you get a
fee challenge
¾ How to measure the success
¾ Staff may not like fee challenges
¾ They will arise…be prepared
¾How you handle these challenges
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If you can’t avoid a
challenge then..
¾ Maintain due process
¾ Provide fairness
¾ Be timely
¾ Ensure supportability
¾ Keep records
¾ Follow your process
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We now know what?
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Lessons Learned
• Important to get the toughest
critics involved in reviewing the
program early
• Development Triggers
• Missing Curb Lane Fundpavement holiday solution
• Contingency-for that traffic
signal you didn’t know you
wanted but your Board member
did
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Lessons Learned
¾ Let the public know about the fee
¾ Keep records of all permits assessed
¾ Write down uniqueness
¾ Modify your permit system to
calculate for Impact Fees
¾ Select permits to review quarterly for
assessment
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Lessons Learned
¾ Have an established protocol.
Develop a procedural guide for the
public to follow.
¾ Make sure all correspondence is time
sensitive as per the guidance in your
code.
¾Careful selection of land use
categories.
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Lessons Learned
¾Maintain staff consistency
¾ Use defendable data
¾ Everyone pays…not an Economic
Development incentive
¾ If County project pay the fee
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Lessons Learned
• Fairness
– Earn a reputation for fairness
– Take into account projects
already in the pipeline
– Be fair to the small projectJoe Homeowner
• Develop credibility with elected
officials
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Lessons Learned
• Dealing with the Developer
– Be consistent
– Time is more important than
money
– Need certainty on fee rates
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Harder Lessons Learned
• Use a common sense approachkeep it simple
• Don’t create fees for areas that
are too small
• Include a CPI Escalator
• Perform regular program
updates-critical to program
success
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Conclusion:
¾ Compared and contrasted two
programs
¾ Major to Minor piece of the
infrastructure puzzle
¾Lessons learned are universal and
not dependent on program size
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Web Pages
www.saccounty.net
www.co.weld.co.us