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Developer fee shift studied By Amber Fossen Ashland Daily Tidings A resolution to alter Oregon law by allowing cities to implement Systems Development Charges for police, fire departments, libraries and schools could help the cash-strapped Ashland School District. SDCs, which are one-time fees levied on new developments, are meant to compensate the potential drain to existing services and infrastructure caused by new development and growth. State law currently prohibits collection of SDCs for police, fire departments, libraries and schools. However, cities throughout the state are passing resolutions to modify the state law - including Ashland. However, Mayor Alan DeBoer said Ashland schools may be ineligible based on the criteria of growth. "SDCs have to be determined in a certain procedure and it can only be related to the cost of new growth," DeBoer said. The mayor said the theory is that with development there's growth. But Ashland schools are not growing, they're declining. A 2002 ASD demographer's report reflects a 15.2 percent decline in enrollment - or 477 fewer students - by 2007. Should development occur within a school zone, it may be difficult to prove the impact to schools if some growth is not apparent. SDCs currently assist in paying for the impacts of new development on the city's existing systems including water, transportation, storm drains and parks. SB 511 would expand that to include other public facilities like schools. According to Ashland City Councilor Chris Hearn, the council unanimously decided in August to create a resolution supporting the modification to Oregon law based, in part, on the funding crisis facing local schools. "We felt that the state is obviously having difficulties supporting schools right now and we felt if developers paid a fee, it could help," Hearn said. Superintendent Juli Di Chiro said those fees can be used for capital improvements - such as building a new school. "We're obviously not in an area where there's a lot of development," Di Chiro said. "It would definitely allow high growth districts to build schools if they needed to." Di Chiro said that it might allow for Ashland schools to upgrade the structures of existing sites but that it's too soon to tell what the Legislature will decide upon. "Then we could put more of the general fund into the academic budget," she said. "Anything that would allow us to get more revenue into the district would be welcome." While it could provide schools some help - Bret Moore, president of the Home Builders Association of Jackson County, does not think it would be a fair system. "Depending on the growth rate, 1 to 2 percent of the population is billed for something the whole population benefits from," Moore said. "Quite frankly we think it's unfair to put so much of that burden on the new person moving in. How does building a house equate to building a school or even a portion of the school?" LINKS: DAILY TIDINGS: Main | News | Sports | Business | Obituaries | Opinion | Columnists | AP News | Subscribe | Archives | Weather | Classifieds | Contact Us | Privacy REVELS: Main | Calendar | Dining | Movies | T.V. OTHER: Road Cams Copyright 2003 Ashland Daily Tidings 541.482.3456. 1661 Siskiyou Blvd., Ashland, OR 97520. Ottaway Newspapers, Inc. - Advertisers -