Development charge dent

Everybody has to make tough decisions in a recession. For the city, that meant freezing development charges.

Yesterday, council learned their decision to freeze development fees will cost almost $9 million by July. The freeze also forced he city to stall $3.5 million in infrastructure projects last year and delay another $6 million or so this year. Council lifted the freeze yesterday and raised the cost of building a new home by about $7,000.

Development charges are pretty important to the city as they help pay for the sewers and roads to service new development. Without them, taxpayers are left to cover the cost of the city's expansion.

Bernice Flegg, the president of the Hamilton Halton Homebuilders Association, got a little heat from Councillor Brad Clark yesterday when she asked councillors to be cautious about removing the freeze. She warned the HST and rising interest rates were going to be tough for the industry and cautioned against "blind optimism."

Clark wasn't having any of that. He asked Flegg if the HHBA would ever want to see development charges climb and dismissed her concerns about HST and interest rates. He added that he was "frustrated" with HHBA -- and he sounded like it, too.

Councillor Lloyd Ferguson unsuccessfully asked if it was possible to institute the hike in two doses - half in July, and the other half in December. He argued a phase-in would make the transition easier for the homebuilders. However, that would cost the city another $2.6 million and cause more infrastructure delays.

What do you think? Do you think the development charge freeze was a good move? Did council do the right thing in removing it, or should they have phased it in?

Comments

[JR]

Just a touch of show boating by Clark, guessing there are no more speed bump issues to solve and knee jerk reaction by his fellow councillors who needed to make a decision on some issue this year. Cudos to Ferguson for trying.

[kathy Hagan]

The city needed to remove the freeze, this city cannot afford to subsidize builders and the HST will be a hardship for all citizens.

[JMZ]

This council doesn't believe in business. It only believes in raising taxes. Change is needed.

[kevv]

the builders are making a fortune on the junk their building .
dont forget about the cheap land their buildig them on
were not t.o.
the inspectors arent doing their jobs and sustandard houses are being built daily and the tax payers are paying thru the nose in lawsuits for collasped basement walls etc.like what happened in Flambourough just weeks ago.

with all the houses built in the last 15 yrs we should have new roads every where instead of pothole city.
unfortunately the more money the city gets the more they waste.. so its a no win for taxpayers either way.
stop givig raises to high profile ceo's (because you have to attract talented people its not working councilors)that will save millions alone

[Old Fart]

I think city council should do whatever is necessary to stifle any form of growth in this city. Who wants hundreds more people to shop in our stores, eat in our restaurants, patronize our hairdressers, barbers, churches, theatres, etc. Why would we want more people coming into the area & opening up businesses that may employ more people & pay more municipal taxes.

What is the difference between the lost revenue from these charges & the additional realty taxes paid by the occupants of the buildings?

[JMZ]

Excuse me for pointing out what the newspaper has already said, but Council just added $7,000 to the cost of a home...how is that 'punishing the builders'? It is more like punishing the homebuyer!!

[DBC]

Why should existing taxpayers be subsidizing suburban sprawl which in turn continues to accelerate the decay of the inner city?

If passing the development fees on to the home buyer in the cost of the home makes the home "too expensive", then I guess the market just said the home shouldn't have been built.

[JMZ]

Tax grabs are never the answer to problems...if sprawl is the issue, then don't allow building at all; but to first authorize the construction and then punishe the customers of that industry is bass ackwards if you ask me. This council is grabbing all the taxes it can...and some of us are sick of it.

[Concerned Resident]

The City of Hamilton cannot afford to differ infrastructure projects in order to please the home building industry. I personnaly have many years experience working within the industry and I can honestly stated that given the low land costs associated with many of the local developments the developers and builders can very well afford to pay their full share on a timely basis. I do not believe that the health of the industry would be adversely affected.

[Mike Russell]

This is typical of most of the mickey mouse developers in this city they whine about anything that may cost them money. They would rather see existing taxpayers subsidize their work.

Compared to other municipalities our developement charges are quite low. If the developers don't like it they could always build elsewhere at greater cost. But I doubt that will happen since most of them know how good they have it in this city. With low developement charges and no inspections to expose their shoddy work this city is heaven for the home building industry.