Buildings looking to construct new homes in Kings County will not face rising costs after all.
Facing the proposition of a possible 12.61 percent increase to development impact fees, the Kings County Board of Supervisors decided unanimously against raising fees for the third consecutive year on Tuesday.
County staff calculated the 12.61 percent increase based on the average of Los Angeles and San Francisco from March 2021 to March 2022.
Funds collected from the fees go toward facilities of Countywide Public Protection, Fire, Library, Animal Control and Sheriff’s Patrol and Investigation.
The last time when the county increased fees was in 2019, when the supervisors at the time approved the comparatively modest 2.16 percent increase requested by staff.
Since the impact fee program began in 2005, the county has opted against raising fees seven times.
“We did no fee increases the last two years because we were afraid of putting a burden on our society that we’re building. So if we do this now, single family unit’s about $3,966 on impact fees. It adds an increase of $500 per home,” Supervisor Doug Verboon said.
“You look at it either would protect the people moving here and holding down the growth by putting more fees on an industry that’s already going to be up against hard times when the recession hits. Or do we take the money and increase our buildings here?
“I don’t know. I’m afraid to add increases at this point due to the uncertainty in the economy. I don’t want to slow the growth of our community. I think we’ve got good growth going on right now, and I don’t want to impact it.”
Had the board moved ahead with the 12.61 percent increase, the county would have received an additional $180,000 annually, assuming the current average of 360 homes built per year remains steady.
Last year the county collected $710,067.24 in impact fees, and the lifetime collection totals $10.9 million.
With Tuesday’s decision, the county will once again take a possible impact fee increase under consideration next year.
