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Jones County hears annual capital improvements report; commissioners discuss reinstating impact fees
Summary
At a May 5 public hearing, a county presenter reported zero impact-fee collections or expenditures for the past year and said the county will transmit its capital improvements element to the state; a committee member urged reconsidering impact fees and discussed alternatives such as tap or stormwater fees.
Jones County commissioners heard a brief presentation May 5 on the county’s annual capital improvements element, which the presenter said showed no recent collections or expenditures tied to impact fees.
Greg, who presented the capital improvements element to the commission, said, “In the past year, you’ve collected $0, and you’ve spent $0. You had $0 on hand. You still have $0 on hand,” and described the report as legally required but substantively empty because impact fees currently are not being collected.
The report will be transmitted to the Georgia Department of Community Affairs for state review, Greg said, and the commission is expected to consider formal adoption of the plan amendment at a future meeting, likely in June if the state returns the report in time.
A committee member used the public-hearing portion of the meeting to press the county to reconsider having zeroed out impact fees, arguing that without such fees the county’s general fund bears the cost of infrastructure for new development. “If we zeroed them out, then all of the infrastructure required for development is on us,” the committee member said, adding that higher costs for building infrastructure make the issue more pressing now than when the county first suspended the fees.
Greg responded that Georgia’s Development of Impact Fees Act establishes how local governments must structure impact fees and that some neighboring communities have instead increased water and sewer connection (tap) fees, stormwater fees or other service-area charges to raise revenue for infrastructure needs. He said impact fees remain the clearest option under state law but noted alternatives local governments are using to cover rising infrastructure costs.
Greg told the commission a resolution to transmit the county’s report — with the zeroed impact-fee figures — would appear on the full meeting agenda and asked members and attending residents to sign the circulated sheet so the state will have documentation of the public hearing.
The hearing portion recorded in the transcript concluded after brief questions and closing remarks. The formal transmission resolution and any decision about reinstating impact fees or adopting alternative local fees would require further action by the commission at a later meeting.
