SUSSEX COUNTY -- Sussex County council members voted 4-1 to explore a potential countywide school impact fee Tuesday. If finalized, the fee would impose a cost on development projects, to in turn help fund school expansion projects, according to state education officials.
A petition with the message "Stop School Overcrowding in Sussex" was started by the Delaware State Education Association (DSEA) in support of the proposed fee.Leaders with the association said the petition gained more than 600 signatures in less than a week.
"If something like this had been in place ten years ago, there's a great likelihood that some of, if not a good bit of the construction that the Cape Henlopen School District has done over the years would be at no cost to the taxpayer," Jason Hale, the Director of Operations at the Cape Henlopen School District, told WBOC.
Blair Catlin Brown, a member of the DSEA executive board, said enacting a county-wide fee would lessen the amount districts would ask from taxpayers, and limit the frequency at which districts would go to referendum.
"Yes, it is a fee up front, but it reduces the burden on the taxpayers, the people who have been here forever and are getting sick of referendums pushed towards them," Catlin Brown said.
Catlin Brown also said development in Sussex County has led to the need for an impact fee.
"The students come in, literally, they need a place to sit. If the building was built before a big development boom, there literally aren't enough places for them to sit," Catlin Brown said. "Impact fees will allow us to more easily seek the school sizes that we need."
However, some development associations told WBOCan impact fee would place a burden on homebuyers.
"While we understand the need to fund school infrastructure in a growing county like Sussex, impact fees on new housing are ultimately passed on to homebuyers, driving up costs at a time when affordability is already a major concern," a representative from the Delaware Homebuilders Association said in a statement Tuesday. "We believe now is not the right time to impose new fees without also exploring alternative funding options or cost offsets. Any new policy should strike a balance between supporting public services and maintaining access to attainable housing for working families and first-time buyers."
"When it comes to additional taxes to support local services and public education, the Sussex County Association of REALTORS® (SCAOR) believes it is important to strike a balance that does not discourage housing development," Stephanie Moody, an Association Executive, said. "SCAOR supports the use of incentives and tax credits that promote thoughtful growth and investment in our communities. We remain cautious about new taxes and fees that could unintentionally make it more difficult to create housing opportunities in our County, especially at a time when there is already a shortage of workforce housing."
At Tuesday's council meeting, county officials said legislation for the proposed fee will begin being drafted and explored in the coming weeks.