Waiving fees on new commercial development is expected to cost Clark County, but that hasn’t stopped the program’s top supporter from directing staff to look more closely at how such waivers could pencil out.
Commissioner David Madore is asking staff to query new business owners about what they expect their future gross taxable revenue will be. Those figures, in part, are intended to show whether the fee-waiver program will be successful, with the new tax revenue offsetting the waived fees, or whether it will cut into the county’s coffers.
The county intends to contact as many of the 76 businesses participating in the fee waiver program as it can. Jeff Swanson, working as the interim economic development manager, has been tasked with contacting the businesses.
The tactic is a change in methodology for the county by having Swanson directly contact as many businesses of the businesses as possible. It could cast a rosier outlook on the controversial program — rosier, at least, than what was previously presented. In February, the county projected the waiver program could cost it more than $1 million during a five-year period.
Obtaining revenue projections from new businesses hasn’t been easy, said Marty Snell, the county’s community development director, because developers either don’t have accurate projections or choose not to share them with the county.
That answer didn’t sit well with Madore at a March 26 board time meeting.
“We’re extending a welcome mat out to them,” Madore said, referring to new businesses. “They can do their part and provide us with a real number.”
Madore said the county is building a system that will provide confident and realistic information about the fee waiver program moving forward.
Swanson, who has a background in economics, was handed the assignment following the March 26 meeting.
The new information — including whether revenue projections came from the businesses directly or were based on county calculations, and how confident the county is in them — will be presented to county commissioners at a later date. The change in methodology was not part of the original fee waiver resolution commissioners approved in June, but Madore said he believed it was necessary information to gauge whether the fee waiver program is working.
At that time, commissioners voted to expand the county’s previous fee holiday and waive permitting and transportation fees on new commercial development. The resolution received strong support from Republican commissioners Tom Mielke and Madore, who said it would open the “floodgates” to new jobs. Former Democratic Commissioner Steve Stuart, now the city manager of Ridgefield, opposed the proposal, saying it wasn’t something developers were asking for.
The move to eliminate fees, which businesses pay to accommodate future growth, was a cornerstone of Madore’s successful bid for election in 2012.
Even with the revised projections, it may be difficult for the county to make up losses from transportation impact fees, Snell said.
The county has waived $430,000 in permitting fees, Snell said, but there are a projected $2.8 million in transportation impact fees yet to be waived.
“Those fees will be difficult to overcome,” Snell said.
