Factors That Influence a Jurisdiction’s Probability of Charging Impact Fees

Abstract

Increasing limitations on property taxes, declining federal, and state investment in infrastructure, and the realization that growth should pay its own way are among the major reasons contributing to local governments’ increasing reliance on impact fees to finance their growing infrastructure, including transportation needs. Although the factors that have led to the wide spread use of impact fees have been previously examined, the earlier studies have been largely theoretical in nature. This study, through empirical analysis of jurisdictional-level attributes of 16 impact fee charging cities and towns of King County and Snohomish County, Washington, for the period of 1991–2000, identifies and provides relative importance of several factors that influence the probability of a jurisdiction charging impact fees. The results show that these factors include population size of the jurisdiction, property tax rate, per-pupil school expenditure, and the number of new single family permits issued per year.