Written by There has recently been a city hall email buzz about potentially spotty collection of Issaquah School District impact fees.
The City of Renton sits in three different school districts: Renton, Issaquah, and Kent. Both Issaquah and Kent charge impact fees for new construction of homes of a few thousand dollars per home, which is used to off-set the cost of the new schools that will be required to serve the new residents. Renton School District does not charge an impact fee for new homes.
While the fee on new construction is a pass-though, which goes directly to the school district, the City of Renton serves as the collecting authority…we are the agency that is permitting the constuction and collecting fees, so we are in the best position to collect the School district impact fees.
Lately, East Plateau resident (and Issaquah Distict resident) Claudia Donnelly has flagged some new developments where this fee was apparently not collected, or at least not on the time frame she would have expected.
It sounds like this needs to be investigated, as I am now starting to wonder exactly who makes the final declaration about which school district a property is in at the time of building application. For vacant land, it could take a survey and careful mapping to be sure that it is clear which side of the district line each home is on.
The city of Renton receives no benefit either way since the fee is a pass-through. If we are culpable in any way, it’s not because of trying to balance any budgets…it would be more likely process confusion. Clearly, Issaquah has the most to gain in terms of getting this process in order, but we may need to do better in some way ourselves.
The email below is a sample of recent correspondance. The bottom email is from Ms. Donnelly, and includes a letter she posted in the Issaquah Press; the top email is our City Clerk’s response back to her.
I’m sure we will hear more about this before it is completely resolved.
>>> Citizens to Council 12/7/2007 1:25 PM >>>
Ms. Donnelly:
The City’s regulations regarding school impact fees can be found in Renton
Municipal Code, Title IV, Chapter 1, section 160, accessible for viewing via the
City website, www.rentonwa.gov.
I am attaching a copy of the recently adopted ordinance which revised the school
impact fees. The public hearing for this ordinance was held on October 8, 2007.
Minutes of that Council meeting are posted to the City website, for more
information.
It is my understanding that impact fees are requested by the school districts,
and when approved, the City becomes basically the pass-through agency. The
financial records for the school districts show the income. You may wish to
check with Erika Conkling in our EDNSP Department (430-6578) or with the school
district financial offices for further information.
Bonnie Walton
City Clerk
City of Renton
425-430-6502
>>> Michael/Claudia Donnelly <thedonnellys@oo.net> 12/6/2007 12:21 PM >>>
This is the letter to the editor that was published in December 5
Issaquah Press. It would be nice to get answers to my questions.
Renton is doing it again.
On the Wednesday before Thanksgiving, I drove past a development sign
that said some of the homes were in the Issaquah School District.
So, being the good citizen that I am, I called some Issaquah School
District officials about it. The officials I spoke to didn’t know
anything about this development. I also sent Westcott Homes (the
developer) a note asking about it and whether or not it was paying
school impact fees for those new homes in the Issaquah School
District. No one responded.
The city of Renton is supposed to be collecting school impact fees to
help offset the new growth in the East Renton Plateau area for the
Issaquah School District. Renton is also supposed to be collecting
impact fees for the Kent School District for homes on the other
hill. Are they doing that?
On November 29, I visited the site of this development — Vercello.
I spoke to a sales agent about this claim. He showed me on a map
where 40 homes are being constructed — some have been sold. I sent
Renton officials a note asking if they could explain why no school
impact fees are being collected for the Issaquah district. No answer.
My question to Renton officials: Why do Issaquah residents have to
subsidize schools in this area for Renton residents if the developers
don’t have to pay school impact fees? My question to Issaquah
district officials: How many other developments in Belleuve,
Sammamish, Renton and Newcastle don’t you know about? What, if
anything will the school district do about it
It’s nice to know how honest the city of Renton staff is. Will the
new mayor be different — or will it be the same old story? Only
time will tell.
Claudia Donnelly
Renton
I’ve had the same question for a long time, Randy, and maybe you can answer it: why DOESN’T Renton collect impact fees for its school district? Given the enormous growth and current overcrowding at Highlands, Kennydale, Sierra Heights, and Maplewood Elementary, and McKnight Middle School, it seems that this would be prudent to have done to offset the costs of re-opening Honeydew and adding portables at McKnight. (Incidentally, McKnight AND Nelsen are in the top 10 for largest middle schools in the state… not a fact which does this district proud; most middle schools have between 600-700 students, but McKnight and Nelsen have over 1100. Highlands and Sierra Heights Elementaries both have over 600 kids themselves, which is huge for an elementary. Perhaps impact fees would have given the district funding to be creative with buildings in order to facilitate smaller school sizes.)
Great question. I would not be opposed to this.
The reason we have not seen it yet, as I understand it, is that during the last decade Renton School District has had a focus on replacing and rebuilding old schools, which really is a shared responsibility of all homes in the city…new AND old.
However, district officals are starting to talk about one or more all-new Renton schools to relieve overcrowding, and I think it would be fair to ask new development to pay an impact fee to assist with this.
I always scrutinize impact fees very carefully, because of the effect on home prices and scarcity of housing. However, having schools is essential to the sale of new homes, and this change would basically bring Renton School District’s funding strategy in-line with nearby districts, so I could support it.
Thanks again for the question. How do the rest of you readers feel about this?
Get that money!
Of course impact fees should be collected. I know the Renton school district can use the money:
The Renton School maintenance facility on Park Ave looks like something out of a low budget Mad-Max movie. The have barbed wire right up to the property line, pealing paint, broken windows and no plantings. Of course they painted it with ten different versions of hideous blue just because they were too lazy to color match.
Pissees me off how the school district get away with not maintaining their buildings – if I did that, the code compliance people would be down my throat.
Re: Get that money!
I believe Maintenance is getting a new facility located at the site of the old Thomson Elementary across from Dimmitt.
http://www.renton.wednet.edu/news0607/Facility_Thomson%20_April_07.pdf
Re: Get that money!
I laughed at the colorful way that the maintenance facility was described…at least there are no piles of burning tires or warriors with cross-bows. But yes, we should totally support getting a new facility built. And when we build it, we should avoid the barbed wire, and rely on modern security cameras and alarms instead.
Re: Get that money!
The bad part is that the Renton School district horrible job of decommissioning buildings – they left Satori elementary to rot, and my hunch is that when they get a new facility – they’ll just abandon the old one. Hopefully with the property values increasing there may be some impetus to sell the unused land.