Advisory Board Makes Recommendation to Commissioners

Following completion of its review of the report from their consultant TischlerBise, and the community engagement consultant Surf HL completed, the Impact Fee Advisory Board makes the following recommendations to the commissioners regarding implementation of impact fees in Missoula County. The commissioners will hold the first public meeting on this at 2 p.m. Thursday, April 27, where they will open the public comment period. Attend the meeting in person at the Sophie Moiese Room of the Missoula County Courthouse Annex, or join virtually via Microsoft Teams. Find the agenda and link to join at http://missoula.co/bccmeetings The agenda will be posted on Friday, April 21.

The Board asks that the commissioners:

• Hold a public hearing with the intent to adopt impact fees at the rates proposed and described in the report from TischlerBise;
• Include a 5% administrative fee as part of the impact fee program to support the administrative costs for the collection and use of impact fees;
• Pursue an intergovernmental agreement for the collection of Missoula County impact fees inside the city limits of the City of Missoula;
• Provide clear communication and education about impact fees for 8 to 9 months prior to implementation of the fees;
• Implement an annual inflation adjustment based on the annual ENR (engineering news report) Construction Cost Index;
• Include a waiver and/or reduction of fees for projects that include permanently affordable housing:
  1. Permanently affordable should be defined consistently and broadly to include “deed-restricted dwelling that serves individuals or families earning less than 60% of the area median income and for projects that meet the definitions to make them eligible to apply for Federal Low Income Housing Tax Credits,” and/or
  2. Projects that contain a component of affordable housing should be considered on a case-by-case basis.

Let us know what you think about these recommendations for the commissioners brought forward by the advisory board.