STAR, Idaho — Star's population has exploded from 11,117 to 22,340 residents — a 108% increase over five years. With farmland replaced by new subdivisions, city leaders say they need more facilities and equipment for police, fire, and parks to keep pace with rapid development.
"When people are talking about growth, paying for growth, impact fees is the way for growth to pay for growth," said Trevor Chadwick, mayor of Star.
WATCH | Learn about Star's new impact fees—
Impact fees are charges collected at the building permit stage that help cities maintain levels of service as they grow. Under Idaho statute, these fees can only be used to maintain existing service levels, not increase them.
Star currently has park impact fees and is developing a capital improvement plan to add impact fees for police and pathways.
"We got to have them so we can make certain that our city grows appropriately and properly. There's not funding otherwise to pay for those critical pieces," Chadwick said.
The police impact fee will help fund substations, a police station, training facilities, and vehicles. Chadwick noted that Star's police vehicles have proven to last well over the required 10 years, meeting statutory requirements for impact fee eligibility.
"As the city grows, we're gonna need substations, we need a police station, things like that, training facilities, and so you know we're gonna have a capital improvement plan that shows that," Chadwick said.
However, impact fees come with significant limitations.
"Impact fees are for capital projects. They are not for people. And so we can do all these capital projects, but you gotta have the people to maintain that stuff, right, or service it like police or with fire," Chadwick said.
Mayor Chadwick referenced empty Fire Station 55 as a prime example — built entirely with impact fees but still closed because no funds exist for firefighters.
The fire station situation illustrates the urgency of impact fee usage. Fees must be used within eight years of collection, or they're returned to developers with interest.
"The Star Fire Station, for instance, was built with impact fees because they're rolling up close to that 8-year window, and it's not getting cheaper to build it," Chadwick said.
The mayor acknowledged that the staffing challenge differs between police and fire services.
"It's a little easier for us to add officers because we can add one at a time versus a fire station. You have to add 9, right? But we still need to have these facilities at different locations to make sure that our city maintains that level of service," Chadwick said.
Neighbors are split on the proposal, with some supporting the fees as necessary for growth while others worry about the financial burden.
"I don't mind taxes going up a little bit as long as it's for something good," said David Codina, a Star neighbor.
Codina sees benefits in the city's growth and development.
"I kind of like different restaurants coming in, fast food places and stuff like that, you know, so… there's some good things about growth," Codina said.
However, local teacher Kristine Rittenhouse expressed concerns about the approach to funding growth-related needs.
"I know that it's always controversial because it's perceived as a tax, and I agree that we kind of need to start living within our means instead of adding impact fees or levies or whatever you call it," Rittenhouse said.
"I understand that people feel when there's growth, we should just keep taxing, but it has ruined a lot of other states, and we don't want that to happen in Idaho," Rittenhouse said.
Chadwick acknowledged the debate around impact fees and housing affordability.
"Some folks don't like impact fees. They think that they price people out of homes by having impact fees. Other folks want us to charge way more impact fees, right, to make sure that their infrastructure is taken care of," Chadwick said.
However, he emphasized that impact fees are just one factor in housing costs.
"There is always a challenge with the home affordability and whatnot, but there's a lot more factors in that home affordability than an impact fee," Chadwick said. "I was here back when our first house was $97,000... and now you can hardly get a house for $500,000 to $600,000. That's pretty tough, right? I know my kids are having to look outside the area."
The mayor stressed that impact fees follow a specific statutory process and cannot be arbitrarily set.
"We have a very specific process we have to follow in the state of Idaho by statute that allows us just to pay for to pay to maintain our levels of service that we need to have as we continue to grow," Chadwick said.
The city began the impact fee update process a year ago, meeting with an impact fee committee and the building community.
Star's City Council is expected to hold a public hearing on the new impact fees on March 3rd, with implementation beginning 30 days after adoption.
