Fresno Developer Fees Will Increase by 20x

03/27/2007 (KFSN) -- The price of buying a home and commercial property in Fresno just increased dramatically. On Tuesday, the Fresno City Council decided to raise developer's Street Impact Fees.

The Fresno City Council hasn't raised developer street impact fees in 15 years, so on Tuesday, they made up for lost time. They adopted a measure that will raise those fees by as much as 20 times their current rate; and small contractors say it may eat them alive.

Jack Herrera says his livelihood as a contractor in Fresno just came to a screeching halt. Street fees just went from $3,500 an acre to $70,000 an acre. He says larger developers will be able to absorb these costs a lot easier than he will. "The fees will be proportionate but still, the smaller guy he's out there fighting and struggling, "says Herrera.

Councilmember Mike Dages didn't like the 3 year plan to increase fees either saying, "The reason I don't agree with this, first of all any time you raise your fees 20 times the amount is ridiculous."

So he proposed to raise the fees for 1 year and send the city and developers back to the bargaining table to hammer out the fees for the second and third years, and the motion passed.

Councilman Larry Westerlund thinks the fees are excessively high, but says this council is having to make tough choices that previous councils failed to. He says, "This is a tough job. This is not a walk in the park job. And it seems like some of the councils before us decided to take a walk in the park rather than do the hard work.

Ultimately, Herrera says its the consumer who pays the higher cost. "So who's it going to get passed on, the developer and the developer is gonna pass it on to the consumer."

These street impact fees go into effect in 60 days. But come July 1st, the City Council wants to see another plan to raise impact fees for the second and third year.

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