Spokesman-Review Letters to the editor
Impact fees another rip-off
Kootenai County considering impact fees is just another rip-off from overtaxed citizens. The county claims it needs another $2,000 to $5,000 in fees on top of the astronomical fees they already charge.
Consider this: A developer buys prairie land which is being taxed at about $10 per acre. He puts in all of the infrastructure, roads, sewers, power, phones, paving, etc. The county and cities pay absolutely nothing for this increased value. The developer now sells some of these now highly valued lots to a builder who pays permit fees, sewer hookup fees, fire district fees, road district fees, water hookup fees, electrical permits, and the list goes on.
After this, what is the assessed value with four houses per acre? Maybe $600,000 to $1.2 million per acre or more. Every year the taxing districts receive $4,800 to $10,000 per acre from ground they used to receive just pennies from. And it didn't cost them one red cent.
So Rick and Todd and the rest of the bureaucrats across the county need more money to waste on SUVs with fancy paint jobs, $1.2 million fire stations and most of all more government employees. Are our leaders out of touch with reality? You bet!
Mike Gossett
Coeur d'Alene
What's your opinion, do you agree with Mr. Gossett? If so, or not, what's your reasoning?
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