Builders who asked the local government to extend a waiver of building permit fees may get what they wanted.
The Unified Government Commission, after discussion at a Monday evening budget workshop, took a straw poll and found that commissioners were unanimously in favor of continuing the building permit fee waivers through the end of 2016.
Rusty Roberts, a Wyandotte County builder and developer, during a public hearing Monday evening said there are 24 real estate agents in his office. They see some Cerner employees, for example, who are looking closely at property taxes when they choose a home, he said. Wyandotte County is about 30 percent higher in property taxes than parts of Johnson County. That means about $100 a month more on a payment, he said.
“They look at the numbers, they do the math,” Roberts said. They can take I-435 to Platte County or Johnson County, and he said Wyandotte County loses buyers all the time because of the taxes.
Wyandotte County is falling behind, with 8 percent of the population of Greater Kansas City and only 4 percent of the new homes, he said.
Randy Wilbanks, a builder in Greater Kansas City who has built homes in Wyandotte County, said that this waiver represents an investment. During a 10-year period, a $5,000 waiver will result in about $80,000 coming into the Unified Government’s coffers, he said.
“Part of the reason we need this is to level the playing field,” Wilbanks said. “Currently, the taxes in our region are roughly about 30 percent more than they are in Overland Park and Johnson County.”
He said his company has $4 million under construction now and plans to do more building in 2016..
Robert Hughes, another Wyandotte County developer, spoke at the public hearing about a need for more public-private partnership. He said there were problems convincing potential home buyers that there was more development coming to the northeast area. With the great location, proximity to work areas and accessibility, the area needs a good comprehensive plan, he said. He said he had a proposal for a comprehensive plan.
“We need to get a little smarter on how we address development in the harder areas to develop,” Hughes said. He is developing market-rate housing for the northeast area of Kansas City, Kan. He said a private-public partnership was needed.
During the commission discussion on the issue, Gordon Criswell, assistant county administrator, presented information showing that Kansas City, Kan., was charging less than some Johnson County communities in its total fees involved in building a house, such as building permits, utility fees, planning and zoning, and other fees. There were some cities on the Missouri side that were lower.
Building permit fees waived so far in 2015 for 88 permits totaled $191,400, according to Criswell. The building permit fees are $550 each.
The UG chart showed that 76 permits were waived in 2012, when the program started in August; 145 permits were waived in 2013; 109 permits were waived in 2014; and 88 were waived so far in 2015.
There was a period of time, for about three months in the first part of 2015, when the waiver program lapsed before being reinstated for 2015.
A UG chart showed that single-family building permits for Kansas City, Kan., were somewhat flat during the period when fees were waived.
“Are we making a difference by having our fee waived? I think that’s the policy question for you to consider,” Criswell said.
Commissioner Mike Kane pointed out that the UG would be getting property taxes from the houses that were built. He said it costs a little bit to grow the tax base, and if the UG wants to continue to grow the tax base, the waiver on building fees is one way to do it.
Commissioner Hal Walker said there is a point at which you have to evaluate the data on whether Wyandotte County is getting more houses because of the waiver, or whether it would get the same amount anyway. He said he was OK with the rebate, but it also needed to be said that building here was not as easy in many ways as in Johnson County.
Commissioner Melissa Bynum suggested surveying the builders to get the information about whether they would build without the waiver. She said some builders are still struggling with other economic issues, such as banks and lending practices, and if the UG could give them one more tool to use, she would be in support of it.
“That’s what this commission is about, is rebuilding our tax base,” Commissioner Bynum said.
Commissioner Jane Philbrook also supported extending the waiver of building fees.
Commissioner Brian McKiernan estimated the cost of the waiver versus the taxes paid to the UG, and pointed out that the UG already is forgoing some revenue in the NRA program from new houses. He said he thought the waiver was ultimately a good program because it builds value, which is what the UG wants.
Commissioner Gayle Townsend supported the waiver program, but wanted to know the value of fees given up by the waiver and how much is offset by the taxes coming in, for a year.
Mayor Mark Holland noted that Kansas City, Kan., was already a third of what three Johnson County cities charge for fees, and only three others in Missouri were lower in overall fee structure.
The mayor said that when builders get a waiver on the permit fees, there was no guarantee that the fee waiver would be passed along to homeowners, while the homeowners received the rebate under the NRA program.
Mayor Holland suggested that next year, the UG look at setting up a program where if there is a waiver of the building fee, it would be passed along to the homeowner.
The commission is scheduled to vote on the budget at 7 p.m. July 30 in the Commission Chambers, City Hall. A budget workshop is scheduled preceding the meeting, at 5 p.m. July 30 at the fifth floor conference room, City Hall.
See an earlier story at https://wyandotteonline.com/ug-looks-at-reinstating-waiver-for-home-building-permit-fees/