Columbia voters can decide on Election Day whether to increase development fees by 50 cents per square foot on new construction.
Proposition 2 includes the creation of two categories for commercial projects. The non-residential low impact projects would increase to $1.50 per square foot and the non-residential high impact projects would increase to $2.00 per square foot.
Third Ward City Councilman Karl Skala has been a big proponent for this proposition for nearly a decade.
"I am pretty optimistic that the folks will realize that this is not an excise tax on the residents. This is in fact a way of achieving parody so that everybody pays their fair share for the new capacity that we need in terms of growth," said Skala.
In 2005, about two-thirds of Columbia voters passed a proposal to raise the development fees from 10 cents per square to 50 cents per square foot.
Skala wants the residents of Columbia to realize that this is a fee for only new construction. Any existing houses or buildings that need to be remodeled will not fall under this proposition.
However, it is not a clear cut decision for some people, especially some realtors and the Chamber of Commerce.
The president of the Columbia Board of Realtors Becky Sterling and its members oppose this new proposition. One of the main reasons is that the board believes it is a tax that will make homes less affordable in Columbia and as it is, there are not many affordable homes in the city.
"It is not so much that the developers can't afford it because they are going to pass that cost on, it's that it's going to make buyers able to afford less. They are just not going to get as much of their money," said Sterling.
Sterling said this will hurt small businesses more than large businesses. In addition, she thinks the cost for new construction took an unreasonable jump.
The election is Nov. 4. You can access the whole proposition and the rest of the ballot on the Boone County website.
