Sunday, Jan. 08, 2012

Council makes right call on fees

In Johnston County, Selma leaders have reached the conclusion - perhaps reluctantly - that businesses make decisions based on costs. Only in government could that be an epiphany.

Last month, town leaders decided to lower the development fees paid by the highest-dollar projects in Selma. With a little prodding, apparently, Selma leaders decided that jobs, property taxes and sales taxes were more important than one-time fees that contributed very little to the town's bottom line.

Our question is, Why stop there? Why grant a reprieve to the largest projects, likely by the largest companies, when the fees no doubt fall hardest on the smallest projects by the smallest developers?

We understand that developers are paying a fee for service - a town planner to review site plans, a building inspector to make sure construction meets code. We understand too that the fees are relatively small.

But we would also argue that small fees should be the first to go if the priority is to land jobs and build tax base. Their revenue is not vital to the town, at least not as vital as the property taxes and sales taxes that projects bring to a town's checking account.

Town leaders should understand also that fees get passed along to consumers in the form of higher costs for goods and services. (That, by the way, is the argument for cutting or eliminating the corporate income tax. Consumers pay that too.)

We don't suppose that a developer will refuse to do business in Selma because of town fees. But in this environment of high unemployment and sagging government revenue, fees on development simply aren't worth it.

By the way, early in this editorial we used the phrases "perhaps reluctantly" and "with prodding" because Selma apparently lowered its highest development fees at the urging of its auditor, which cited room for improvement in the calculating and administration of the fees. But the reason matters less than the results, and Selma has done its citizens and its tax base a favor.