Impact Fees

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Missoula County commissioners at their May 25, 2023, public meeting voted to adopt the resolution establishing impact fees in Missoula County, and directed staff to work with the City of Missoula on an intergovernmental agreement.

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Impact fees are one-time payments that developers pay to support growth-related infrastructure related to parks and trails, public safety and emergency services, and general government services.

Over the next 10 years, Missoula County is expected to add 12,000 new residents, 4,500 new homes and 15,400 new jobs. Unincorporated areas in the County are expected to add 4,400 new residents, 1,600 new homes and 4,200 new jobs. This will account for nearly $17 million in growth-related infrastructure needs, like new roads and changes to utility lines. Without impact fees, these costs may otherwise fall to county property taxpayers at large.

After nearly a year of working with consultants, holding public meetings and targeted interviews and engaging with various community groups to gather feedback, the Impact Fee Advisory Committee came up with recommendations for the commissioners, listed under the "News Feed" tab below. In short, County staff, with input from the citizen Impact Fee Advisory Committee, determined existing levels of service and capital needs to accommodate future growth. This helped inform how much the fees should be.

The fees would only apply to new development in the Missoula urban area, Lolo, Bonner, Frenchtown and Seeley Lake. Fees generated in an area must be spent in that same community. For example, if a condominium complex is built in Bonner, impact fees from the project could be used to improve county-owned parks in Bonner, such as adding restrooms or playground equipment. They will be calculated based on whether development is residential or nonresidential, as well as the total square footage of development. Affordable housing development could qualify for exemptions.

Communities across Montana, like Belgrade, Bozeman and the City of Missoula, have implemented impact fees to allow new growth and development to pay its equitable share and encourage disciplined and comprehensive planning and growth management. The authority to create impact fees in Missoula County rests solely with the county commissioners. Jurisdictions with impact fees had to inform the impact fee advisory committees to review proposals and make recommendations to the county commissioners on what projects should receive funding.

Stock image of lumber being used to build a house

Impact fees are one-time payments that developers pay to support growth-related infrastructure related to parks and trails, public safety and emergency services, and general government services.

Over the next 10 years, Missoula County is expected to add 12,000 new residents, 4,500 new homes and 15,400 new jobs. Unincorporated areas in the County are expected to add 4,400 new residents, 1,600 new homes and 4,200 new jobs. This will account for nearly $17 million in growth-related infrastructure needs, like new roads and changes to utility lines. Without impact fees, these costs may otherwise fall to county property taxpayers at large.

After nearly a year of working with consultants, holding public meetings and targeted interviews and engaging with various community groups to gather feedback, the Impact Fee Advisory Committee came up with recommendations for the commissioners, listed under the "News Feed" tab below. In short, County staff, with input from the citizen Impact Fee Advisory Committee, determined existing levels of service and capital needs to accommodate future growth. This helped inform how much the fees should be.

The fees would only apply to new development in the Missoula urban area, Lolo, Bonner, Frenchtown and Seeley Lake. Fees generated in an area must be spent in that same community. For example, if a condominium complex is built in Bonner, impact fees from the project could be used to improve county-owned parks in Bonner, such as adding restrooms or playground equipment. They will be calculated based on whether development is residential or nonresidential, as well as the total square footage of development. Affordable housing development could qualify for exemptions.

Communities across Montana, like Belgrade, Bozeman and the City of Missoula, have implemented impact fees to allow new growth and development to pay its equitable share and encourage disciplined and comprehensive planning and growth management. The authority to create impact fees in Missoula County rests solely with the county commissioners. Jurisdictions with impact fees had to inform the impact fee advisory committees to review proposals and make recommendations to the county commissioners on what projects should receive funding.

Missoula County commissioners at their May 25, 2023, public meeting voted to adopt the resolution establishing impact fees in Missoula County, and directed staff to work with the City of Missoula on an intergovernmental agreement.

  • Advisory Board Makes Recommendation to Commissioners

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    CLOSED: This discussion has concluded.

    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.