I was actually shocked, dismayed and, frankly, disgusted to read the article in the Feb. 2 Cape Gazette titled “Sussex council against school assessment fees.” I applaud and fully endorse the accompanying editorial titled “Council inaction drives up taxes for all.” While the state has given the council the flexibility to create a school impact fee where residential developers would pay a fee to the Department of Education per unit built, the article states the consensus among council members is that this would equate to a “new tax on residents of Sussex County.”
Here are the reasons this is a completely messed-up point of view on the part of council members:
1. Who appointed council members to be the financial managers for developers? The developers may or may not choose to pass this cost on to consumers – that is not for council members to surmise. After all, is council getting involved with the price negotiations between landowners and developers or with the cost of construction services? All of these things are the cost of doing development, and the council should not be assuming what the developers would be doing or not be doing with that increased cost. That is for developers to figure out.
2. Council members would need to be deaf at this point to not hear the incredible frustration from Sussex County residents in terms of the explosion of housing developments vis-à-vis the infrastructure (and lack thereof) needed to support the explosive growth. Here is one instance where there is the capability to give the schools some needed funds to handle growth, and yet council is more concerned about the poor starving developers and their affordability.
3. Council President Mike Vincent is quoted as saying a VSA would not help with the affordability of homes in Sussex County. “It could have the opposite effect and amplify it,” he said. I and many others say, “So what, Mike Vincent?” There are way too many homes being built without the roads, healthcare, police, fire and schools being able to keep up. It would actually be just fine if the developers/builders need to slow down a smidgen, which I seriously doubt this VSA tax would even do. There are houses available at nearly every price point in Sussex County. If the developers so choose to pass on this tax, I would predict that it would have near zero effect on the number of homes being purchased by new residents clamoring to move here from neighboring states with much higher taxes.
Wake up, council members! Start listening to your constituents instead of worrying about developers.
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