Impact fees for schools introduced in Senate committee 

by Logan Finney, Idaho Reports 

The Senate Local Government & Taxation Committee introduced a bill Wednesday that would allow impact fees for local school district facilities, possibly decreasing the need for future school bonds. 

Impact fees can be imposed by local governments when a new development will impact service system capacity. Those fees can be used to fund capital improvements for things like water, roads, parks, and public safety. Lawmakers and school officials have debated adding public schools to that list for several years. 

The bill is sponsored by Rep. Jaron Crane, R-Nampa, and Sen. Geoff Schroeder, R-Mountain Home. 

“This has been an omission for a number of years – intentional – from the development impact fee ordinance,” Schroeder said. 

Schroeder showed Idaho Reports multiple places in the state’s local land use planning code that specifically cite school districts as an important factor in local development decisions. The code “tells school districts to get their hopes up,” he said, with a section specific to mitigating subdivision development and delivering services without compromising quality or imposing substantial additional costs on current residents – but then limits any fees for that mitigation to the development impact fee code, which excludes school districts. 

“This circles that square,” Schroeder told Idaho Reports. 

The bill must receive a full committee hearing to move forward. 

“I’m super excited for this discussion,” said Sen. Treg Bernt, R-Meridian. “This is a subject that needs to get discussed.” 

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