The York County Council has voted to raise impact fees on new single family homes built in Fort Mill to almost $30,000, starting July 1.
That means it will cost builders of single family homes in Fort Mill and Tega Cay $29,640 on top of construction costs. A $21,000 set of impact fees will be levied against new multifamily units built.
Impact fees exist in most states and are intended to bring money to cities that are growing by way of their school districts.
Which is happening in Fort Mill, thanks to the school district routinely being named among the best in the state.
That, said Councilman Andy Litten Monday, validates the high fee.
" What this does is it shows what the value of the Fort Mill School district is." Litten said. "It's worth $30,000 on a house".
In March, representatives of the Fort Mill School District made their case for larger impact fees. Assistant Superintendent Leanne Lordo said that since 2018, impact fees have brought in more than $73 million, and have given the district the ability to build without referendums.
"In fact," Lordo said, "Flint Hill Elementary, which is the name of our new elementary school that will open this coming August, will be paid 100% by impact fees with no bonded debt on that school."
With heavy growth expected to continue, district officials say the higher impact fees are warranted.
But Fort Mill’s fees are now among the highest in the country, and about six times the state average. That puts Fort Mill’s impact fees on par with cities in California.
That’s partly why Monday’s Council vote to raise existing fees by about $12,000 was 4-3.
Councilman Bump Roddy said Monday that impact fees are one thing, but the size of the ones on deck for Fort Mill this summer are exorbitant.
"I do recognize the growth in Fort Mill," Roddy said. "But there has to be a better way than just dumping $30,000 per house on every single family that builds a new house."
Roddy also said the fees on all new builds is unfair to generational residents of Fort Mill who might want to build on their own land.
" There's not even an exception to someone who grew up in Fort Mill, whose families own land all their lives," he said. "Mom, dad breaks them off a acre or two acres and they go build a house, they've got to pay that same $30,000. That's not right."
Critics of impact fees, like the South Carolina Homebuilder’s Association also argue the proposed fees are far too much, and say that tacking tens of thousands of dollars onto construction costs effectively kills affordable housing options.
Homebuilder’s Association CEO Mark Nix has also argued that projections of growth in Fort Mill schools have been exaggerated.
A consulting firm hired by the county in 2018 projected 20,000 students in York District 4 by last year. The Department of Ed reported 18,400.
