News & Info

Impact Fees Proposed in
Lewis/Mason Counties

Impact fees have always sparked heated debates and the issue is once again a hot topic to be debated in Lewis and Mason County.

These fees are charges imposed on new development for the purpose of generating additional revenue in order to offset local government and school district capital improvement expenditures. Standards for the fee must be met by a local ordinance and bear a "rational relationship" to the need for new facilities to serve the new development.

The ordinance must contain a formula and methodology to determine the fee required, but the formula isn't defined by statute allowing for the use of a "standard" formula. For this reason alone, close attention needs to be paid to the formula and the data being used to calculate the fee.

In Lewis County, the Napavine School District was the first to impose a school impact fee last year of $4,931 per new home. Lewis County doesn't have an impact fee ordinance and the Napavine School District utilized a City of Napavine ordinance to collect the impact fee from new home construction within the city limits. Since the district serves an area outside the city limits, those purchasing a new home inside the city limits get to pay when others don't. However, improvements made by the district will benefit everyone. This is just one reason why impact fees are fundamentally unfair.

The Onalaska and Winlock School Districts have "calculated" their fee ($2,902 for Onalaska and $2,907 for Winlock) but since the fees would require a county ordinance and be administered by county government they are far from being adopted. Recently, the Centralia School District announced it too will pursue impact fees and will be seeking support from the Centralia City Council. Olympia Master Builders (OMB) is investigating Napavine's impact fee and is aggressively opposing the other district's proposals.

Mason County is currently considering a countywide school impact fee proposal and the City of Shelton is proposing a "Sidewalk Plan" involving a "Pedestrian Improvement Fee" to pay for sidewalk projects throughout the city.

OMB has hired consultants from The National Association of Home Builders (NAHB) to conduct a technical review of the proposed countywide school impact fees and provide a written analysis on formula calculations and the proposed ordinance.

OMB sent a letter to Mason County's Commissioners stating opposition to the proposed school impact fees and requested that they wait on making a final decision until the NAHB analysis has been received. OMB is reviewing the validity of Shelton's Pedestrian Improvement Fee and plans to challenge the issue.