Following a contentious meeting Tuesday with about 20 local developers and builders, city officials sent an e-mail Thursday to those developers saying that "we are deferring action on this item until we have more internal consideration of the issues and options."
Craig Rost, the city's deputy city manager for development, said the increases, expected to generate $168,000 annually, had been scheduled to be on Tuesday's city council agenda. Now it has been "deferred indefinitely," he said.
"The timing was not good (with the economy) and they asked some questions we need to answer," Rost said.
One question raised by John North, a shareholder with Riley Homes in Urbana, was why the city was proposing to increase fees now, when it has hired a consultant to look at city fees in general to see if they are covering the actual cost of providing services. That study, being done by Navigant Consultants, is expected to be finished in several months.
That was exactly the question I asked last week. Of course, this still begs the question of why the consultant was hired in the first place, since the staff has apparently already concluded that a fee increase is necessary.
I think the answer lies in what the City Finance Director had to say: We need the income. The City simply needs to live within its means like everyone else. Maybe this year they'll dispense with employee banquets, pancake breakfasts, and other non-essentials.
I guess what concerns me is that the City Council is once again going to acquiece to big business with the argument that actually passing an increase along to those who will benefit from the new home or development is somehow unfair. Instead, existing areas will continue to subsidize new areas as their own city services continue to get watered down (even though their taxes do not). If a potential homeowner or builder can't afford an additional 200 or so dollars on a $200,000+ house, then maybe they can't afford the house in the first place.
Having said that, I understand the value of waiting until the study comes out. I just hope that the City Council will do the right thing at that point.
Glad to see you believe employee morale to be a non-essential expense...
HG
"Glad to see you believe employee morale to be a non-essential expense..."
Stuff like employee banquets seem to be an issue with CD, and I've never really understood why.