Impact fees are one-time charges imposed by local government on developers to pay a balanced share of the infrastructure costs to the community. Costs often covered include roads, utilities and public facilities such as schools, parks, police and fire stations. The goal is to have each new development pay the pro-rata share of the costs of off-site capital facilities needed to serve the new development—to help growth pay for itself and reduce the financial burden on the community. The fees may be set aside for construction or expansion of facilities required by development. The fees cannot be used to recover costs for existing infrastructure shortages nor fund operations or maintenance of capital assets.

• Publication date: March 2020