GEORGETOWN, S.C. —  During the upcoming yearly review process for impact fees, Georgetown County Councilman Ron Charlton could ask that a hold be put on impact fees.

Meanwhile, Georgetown County Council will be receiving some preliminary information about the impact fees during upcoming budget workshops, he said.

The first budget workshop is scheduled for Feb. 16, he said.

Charlton expects some information will be made available at that time about how many building permits were issued, and how much was collected in impact fees for most of last year.

The full range of information won’t be available until after June 1, he said.

It will then have been a full year since the fees were passed, and Council can look at the impact the charges are having on the county.

Turns away business

Charlton said he still believes the fees stop businesses, and homeowners, from locating in Georgetown County.

He would like the fees to be put aside during the review  process, he said.

“I’m still in the mindset that we need to look at it and see where we’re at,’’ he said. “I would like to see us just go ahead and put a moratorium on it.”

The fees have also caused concern for the past year among developers and Realtors, who say the $6,000 now charged for a building permit is harming their businesses.

The fees are being used to finance such capital improvement projects as roads, libraries and parks.

Georgetown County Administrator Sel Hemingway said the fees are to take the burden off taxpayers for paying for infrastructure for new development.

“What led council in that direction is that we heard from residents every time a new development comes before council, that they wanted development to pay for its fair share of the growth. The only mechanism to allow that to happen would be impact fees.”

Hurting business

Realtors, however, have continued to say that the fees are hurting the real estate market in Georgetown County.

“Any increased cost of home ownership right now is hurting the market,’’ said Pawleys Island Realtor Alan Altman. “But there are a lot of things negatively affecting real estate, and impact fees are one of them.”

He said the county needs to look at the capital improvements project, and to see whether it is improving the county’s quality of life.

“In this point of time in our economy, it’s hard to imagine there would be anything out there that we would need that would overshadow the cost of home ownership,’’ he said.

Residents also spoke out against the fees, at the time they were passed, because they feel the capital improvement projects should be put off until the recession is over.

Hemingway said the impact fees help pay for libraries, such as the building of the new Waccamaw Neck Library.  

“Within the capital improvement plan, the libraries are part of the overall improvement plan,” he said. “The revenue from those fees will contribute to the construction of those projects. They are the appropriate amount of funds that associates have calculated to what is related to growth.”

By Kelly  Marshall Fuller

Kfuller@gtowntimes.com