Kane County may delay increase in impact fee rate

Kane County will likely hold off on a scheduled increase on the fees charged to developers and businesses looking to locate within its borders in hopes of spurring more economic growth.

Impact fees hold developers accountable for the road improvements needed to accommodate the increased burden on roads and highways resulting from the growth. When development was booming, the county created the fees to help with its newfound transportation improvement needs. The county has collected about $987,000 worth of impact fees through March of this year. Since 2004, the county has collected more than $29 million in fees.

Representatives from local villages lobbied the county to at least reduce the so-called impact fees in 2012. As a result of the lobbying, the county board approved a plan that required only a portion of the impact fee due to actually be paid. Currently, a would-be developer pays half the fees due, but that percentage is supposed to increase 5 percent each April.

Members of the county board's Transportation Committee signed off on a plan to delay this year's scheduled 5 percent increase for another year.

"The world has changed in the last eight-plus years," said transportation committee Chairman Drew Frasz. "We'll extend the freeze for another season, but maybe we should have a more lengthy discussion before we re-implement it."

Many of the most vocal supporters of the impact fees from 2012 are no longer on the county board. Vocal critics, such as county board members Kurt Kojzarek and T.R. Smith, remain.

"I have been against the fees for a long, long time," Smith said in voting to delay this year's 5 percent increase. "I feel business is not coming to the outlying areas of the county because of the impact fees. However, when I see we have been able to put the Burlington Road bypass in because of impact fees, I have mixed feelings."

The full county board must still vote on freezing the scheduled impact fee increase for this year. There may be added pressure to keep the fee increase in place stemming from the loss of state money for transportation in Gov. Bruce Rauner's budget plan for this year. The county will lose about $314,000 from that sweep. That total represents about 5 percent of the department's expected revenue for the year.