Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: FRIDAY, May 11, 1990 TAG: 9005110842
SECTION: VIRGINIA PAGE: B-1 EDITION: EVENING
SOURCE: MARK LAYMAN STAFF WRITER
DATELINE: LENGTH: Medium
It began to reassess real estate every year and to pro-rate personal property tax bills. It got the General Assembly's permission to impose a meals tax.
Now the county has come up with another way to increase revenues: raising the fees for site inspections, rezoning requests, and parks and recreation programs and activities.
The fee increases recommended by a consultant and proposed by County Administrator Elmer Hodge would bring in nearly $300,000 a year in new revenue.
The biggest increases would hit developers. For example, a site plan review now costs $90 plus $5 per acre. The consultant found that revenues from site plan reviews totaled only $7,700 last year - $51,000 less than the cost of staff time. To break even, Hodge has proposed that the charge be raised to $685 plus $40 per acre.
The cost of applying for a commercial rezoning, which now is $150 plus $5 per acre, would go up to $945 plus $30 per acre.
Developers aren't too upset by the proposed fee increases because "they're pass-through expense," said county Supervisor Bob Johnson, who is a partner in Hollins Development Corp. Developers will simply add the additional cost to the sale price of land.
The proposed increases in parks and recreation fees wouldn't be as steep. But they would affect thousands of county residents who participate in community education, leisure arts, outdoor adventure, senior citizens and therapeutic programs and in youth and adult athletics.
Up to now, the county has tried to recoup only the costs of instructors and materials in those programs. Assistant County Administrator John Chambliss said the fee increases would be aimed at recouping a percentage of the indirect costs - for such things as staff time and the use and maintenance of county buildings and grounds.
For example, fees paid by participants in county leisure arts programs, such as ceramics classes, cover $42,000 in direct costs. But they don't cover an estimated $141,000 in indirect costs.
Under Hodge's proposal, fees would be raised to cover one-fourth of those indirect costs. The average fee to participate in a leisure arts program, which now is $35, would go up to $69.
Chambliss admitted that the fee increases might cause participation to drop off. The consultant's revenue projections allow for that. But, he said, "I don't think we've priced ourselves out of the marketplace."
The idea behind the fee increases is simply that "the person that gets the benefit pays for it," he said.
The county wouldn't try to recoup indirect costs of its senior citizens and therapeutics programs. Instead, it would charge a $10 a year fee to all participants.
The county wouldn't try to recoup indirect costs of youth athletics, either. But instead of charging a $5 fee per team, as it does now, it would charge $5 per participant.
Hodge isn't proposing the biggest revenue-booster recommended by the consultant - a $5-per-month fee for garbage pickup. That would bring in $1.4 million a year. A majority of the supervisors has opposed recent suggestions to reimpose the garbage pickup fee, which was dropped five years ago.
A public hearing on the fee increases is scheduled for the supervisors' May 22 meeting.
by CNB