Developer Impact Fee Revenue Report Shows $66 Million Available to Riverside County

By PAUL YOUNG, City News Service:

Riverside County has tens of millions of dollars to commit to a variety of public projects, thanks to development impact fee collections, according to a report that the Board of Supervisors reviewed this week.

In a 5-0 vote on Tuesday, the board without comment signed off on the Executive Office’s annual report on development impact fees, which in the last year fiscal year topped $66 million.

According to the report, $13.4 million in DIF revenue was allocated for public projects in 2014-15, while only $2.09 million in fees were actually collected, indicating that most of the funds in the DIF account were banked from previous years.

DIF assessments, originally implemented under a 2001 ordinance, are collected as part of the county permitting process for the construction of homes, office buildings, apartment complexes and other private facilities in unincorporated areas. Revenue cannot be spent to meet discretionary needs, per state law, but instead must be set aside for infrastructure projects.

Impact fee revenue can be expended on jail expansions, roadway grade separations, fire station and correctional facility expansions, library books, interchange improvement projects, parks and the Interstate 10 “Life-Line” Bypass, which entails building frontage roads paralleling the east-west artery between Banning and Palm Springs so that motorists aren’t stranded in the event of a massive traffic jam.

Fees were raised once in 2006, but in July 2009, all DIF assessments were cut in half as part of a board-initiated economic stimulus plan to encourage construction projects. The plan remained in effect until last January, when the board voted to revise the DIF rate schedule to increase county revenue.

Under the current schedule, more than $350 million is expected to be generated through 2035, according to Executive Office documents. Fees are being increased every six months -- the first adjustment was in September -- until they reset at elevated rates, in some cases exceeding pre-recession levels.

The new target rates, which can range from a few thousand dollars to more than $45,000 per unit or acre, will be reached in the first half of 2017.

Fees are collected within 20 designated county services areas.

Smaller projects, such as guest houses and additions to existing homes, frequently qualify for fee waivers.

(Image via Shutterstock)