Legislators Not Fooled by Local Developers

Local developers tried to run a clever scam yesterday, but a state legislative committee saw through their efforts to dump their costs on local citizens. Developer Charlie Sloan, business consultant Stephen Davis, lobbyist Jeremy Hutchinson, and Republican State Rep. Jon Woods of Springdale got the spanking they deserved when they advocated a real estate transfer tax on all homeowners to pay for the new infrastructure costs created by their real estate developments.

Rep. Ray Kidd (D-Jonesboro) said the scheme by developers to get city residents to pick up their cost and increase their profits was brazenly "putting it on the poor folks." Rep. Lamont Cornwell (D-Benton) said the developers’ proposal would defeat the purpose of impact fees, because impact fees are for the burden of the infrastructure created by new development, and people in the existing community are already paying their fair share. Cornwell also questioned putting impact fees to a public vote where developers could spend thousands of dollars on an advertising campaign. “That’s why we elect city councils,” he said, to do their job and make decisions about public policy.

Rep. Woods, a banker, said he was asked to sponsor the interim study by Sloan's hired lobbyist Jeremy Hutchinson, who apparently couldn't get his mother, Rep. Donna Hutchinson (R-Bella Vista) to do it for him. Woods said some developers in Fayetteville wanted it, and he had heard from some friends in the real estate business who oppose impact fees. He admitted that he didn't know whether abolishing impact fees would increase the availability of more modestly-priced homes, and he thought some developers were “looking for ways to make money” because homes aren’t selling as quickly as they would like.

Stephen Davis, who used to work for Mayor Coody, said that people in existing homes haven’t necessarily already paid their fair share and should pay more. Only two weeks ago, however, he told the Elkins City Council that existing residents shouldn't have to pay for expansion of their infrastructure, because "you want future people to pay for their share." His advice seems to change depending on who is paying his fat consulting fees.