Commissioner urges consistent 'growth pays its own way' policy after city council blocks jail impact fee

A county commissioner said the county should require new development to cover its infrastructure costs after the city of Apple declined to collect an impact fee for a state-mandated jail, a decision the commissioner said blocks a countywide approach.

The commissioner opened by seeking clarification about sewer financing, asking, "So, if I understand correctly, Battle makes the developers pay for the sewage treatment facility." A staff member responded, "Yeah, in practice," and explained that where a project is large enough and the city does not provide wastewater treatment, developers must "solve that" on their own. The staff member said Apple "believe[s] that the new growth ought to pay its own way without a burden on existing residents."

The commissioner said the contrast between the city and the county has practical effects. "The county has attempted since I became a commissioner to try to get an impact fee in place for the jail, which is a state-mandated service that the city gets the benefit of," the commissioner said, adding that four members of the Apple city council told officials, "we don't want to collect the impact fee," a refusal the commissioner said effectively nullified the county's ability to collect a countywide fee.

The discussion focused on the distribution of costs between new development and existing taxpayers, with the commissioner arguing for a consistent countywide policy so that growth "should pay for itself and not saddle the existing residents to have to foot that burden." No formal motion or vote on a policy change or impact fee appears in the provided transcript.

The record in the transcript is limited to the exchange above; it does not show a formal vote, ordinance text, or specific fee amounts. Further proceedings or formal proposals would be needed for the county to change policy or to impose a countywide impact fee.