Even as developers in Jefferson County raked in millions during the just-ended building boom, taxpayers were picking up most of the tab for their permitting, zoning and processing fees — and they still are.
The county charges the lowest overall development fees in the seven metro counties, with residents coughing up $1.6 million last year to make up the difference developers don’t pay for processing, zoning and permitting costs, according to the county’s development office. At the current rate, projections indicate taxpayers will subsidize the review process with $2.2 million by 2015.
“If I’m a property-tax payer in Jefferson County, I’m paying about 85 percent of those development costs,” said Tim Carl, the county’s development and transportation director. “There should be an equitable balance that brings the fees more in line with the costs of review and lessens the amount subsidized through the general fund.”
The problem is that while a rezoning review, for instance, costs a developer $500 in Jefferson County, the cost to the county in hourly wages and benefits is $2,566, Carl said.
That same review in Denver costs developers much more: $1,000 plus $500 an acre. In Wheat Ridge, developers pay $1,200 plus $125 an acre.
Last year alone, Jefferson county processed 21,818 different development requests, charging fees to developers that in some cases have not risen in 23 years.
In order to remain consistent with other counties, Carl recently proposed an uptick in some fees, which would raise the developers’ costs from 15 percent to 32 percent of the county’s development expenses by 2011. In 2014, under the proposal, the fees would be adjusted every three years in accordance with the consumer price index.
But the County Commission rejected Carl’s initial effort, asking him to try a more incremental approach to increasing fees.
Commissioner Kevin McCas ky said he supports raising costs for developers a bit — but not until the economy turns around. He said he is looking for a longer-term proposal that would cap developers’ responsibility at about 25 percent, with taxpayers picking up the remaining 75 percent.
“My philosophy is that development review is a general government function and a significant amount of the costs should be borne by the general coffers,” he said. “Other jurisdictions might have a different philosophy.”
Officials in the city and county of Denver aim to recoup 100 percent of the costs.
“City permit fees are established to cover the cost of providing the service, and we continually seek to improve our business practices to be as efficient as possible,” said Peter Park, Denver’s manager of community planning and development.
McCasky said that most developers he has spoken to are willing to pay “double or triple” the amount in fees as long as the process is efficient and on time. While a few years ago Jefferson County had a number of problems in processing development requests, it’s doing very well now, said McCasky and Carl, and the county includes specific time frames in its regulations.
Amie Mayhew, vice president of public affairs for the Colorado Association of Home Builders, said developers provide cities and counties a number of benefits by building roads and increasing sales-tax revenues. She also said that builders were open to an increase in fees but that there were likely repercussions.
“They are happy to pay their fair share and what’s appropriate, but when fees go up, they are passed onto the homebuyers,” she said. “This makes housing less affordable.”
Karen E. Crummy: 303-954-1594 or kcrummy@denverpost.com
