By Myrna Trauntvein
Times-News Correspondent
Mona desperately needs to have an annexation policy to
protect the citizens of the existing community by having a
capital facilities improvement fund fee.
"You can consider and think over my recommendations,"
said Doran Kay, council member. "Our attorney, Phil Lowry,
said it is legal to require a contribution to a development
fund and that it is a discretionary decision on the part of
the applicant."
"If a $3,488 impact fee is justified by the city under
the provisions of the impact fee ordinance, then why can't a
comparable fee be more appropriately assessed to the
petitioning parties in a discretionary agreement as a
condition for annexation?"
In view of recent annexations to the incorporated
boundaries of Mona City, and in respect to future petitions
for annexation, the council now has the benefit of
experience from which to draw upon in decisions of these
matters, he said.
"I earnestly request your support for the adoption of
some annexation policy that will lay out the conditions for
annexation," he said.
It is opinion, said Kay, that prior to annexation and as
a condition of annexation, petitioning parties should
contribute to a capital facilities improvement fund on an
per acre basis.
The fee should be equal to current estimated costs of
replacing or providing adequate storage and source capacity
to Mona's capital facilities. The fees should also be in
proportion to a projected demand that the proposed
annexation will impose on the water system.
Kay said, that prior to annexation, undeveloped
agricultural land in the vicinity of Mona's growth area has
been selling for $3,000 to $4,000 an acre.
"Immediately upon crossing an imaginary boarder within
the city limits the worth is increased and the same property
sold for a value of between $15,000 and $16,000 an acre,"
said Kay.
Development potential is not prohibited by Juab County in
the un-incorporated areas prior to annexation.
The only difference between the one property value and
the other is that considerable improvements need not be
developed nor financed at the expense of a developer with
respect to capital facilities and the right to utilize them
after being annexed to the city.
"It can, of course, be debated that this is why a $3,488
impact fee is charged by the city in order to recover some
of the city's expenses," said Kay. "And in this regard it is
justified. However, in response to this argument it should
be noted exactly who it is that the city collects this fee
from."
The fee does not come from parties annexing their
property but from those seeking hookups to the water system
at the time a building permit is obtained.
"In this respect, annexing parities stand to receive a
profitable windfall from annexation considering the fact
that they neither have to construct capital facilities nor
have to pass the cost for them on in the sale of their
property," Kay said.
As a result, citizens of Mona are oppressed with
perpetual bonding obligations to continually upgrade capital
facilities in response to the demand that comes from
development on annexed properties.
"Recognizing this profit potential that is subsidized by
the city's willingness to freely annex land with no cost to
the petitioner will invent a spirit of speculation that will
reek havoc on the agricultural community's farm land
valuations and other land uses outside the city limits," he
said.
Kay said he thought a policy that required a contribution
to a capital facilities improvement fund before accepting an
annexation petition would chart a course of good fiscal
planning.
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