A buy-in fee for schools.

Byline: The Register-Guard

When a new home or business sprouts in Oregon, its owner is immediately entitled to the benefits of investments made by those who came before - the civic infrastructure of streets, sewers, parks and other public services, all built with tax dollars. Oregon and other states have long allowed local governments to recoup part of this investment, and accumulate funds to meet growth-related demands for additional services, by charging systems development fees for new construction.

School districts, however, have been barred from collecting such fees. Senate Bill 1036 would end that unfair prohibition. At least part of the costs that growth can bring to school districts could be shifted to new arrivals. The Senate approved the measure last week, and the House should vote to send it to the governor.

SB 1036 would allow - not require - local school districts to assess systems development charges of up to $1 per square foot of new housing, 50 cents per square foot of commercial buildings and 25 cents per square foot of industrial space. The maximum fee for any development would be $25,000. Statewide, the fees could generate as much as $60 million for school construction. The actual total is likely to be considerably less, because some local school boards will refrain from imposing what amounts to a tax on growth.

The Oregon Homebuilders Association has successfully resisted systems development charges for schools in the past on grounds that they push the cost of housing higher. The association agreed to support SB 1036 after winning an agreement by the bill's supporters to include a provision barring new systems development charges for 10 years.

The moratorium is bad policy in principle - the fees should be allowed for any fair and justifiable purpose. But it's acceptable in practice, because the exclusion of school districts has been by far the most glaring inequity in state law governing systems development charges.

The homebuilders are right: Any fees imposed by school districts would add to the cost of new housing, businesses and industry. But when growth creates pressure to build new schools, the money for construction must come from somewhere. In the absence of a systems development charge, the burden falls on all property tax payers - including those who have already been taxed to repay bonds that financed earlier school construction. It's reasonable to expect new arrivals to pay a buy-in fee for the cost of existing schools paid for by others, and to offset the cost of new schools that would not otherwise be needed.

Growth pressures are most acute in school districts serving the fast-growing suburbs of Portland, and in such hot spots as Deschutes County. Most Lane County school districts have stable or declining enrollment. Officials in these districts may conclude that the benefits of growth would offset any costs, and refrain from charging a fee. SB 1036 correctly leaves the decision to school boards, whose members can balance the costs and benefits of growth in each district. It's also proper that SB 1036 recognizes that new businesses and industries contribute to many school districts' growing pains.

The House should follow the Senate's lead on this issue. The logic that has long allowed communities to charge a construction fee for parks and sewers should permit them to do the same for schools.