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the aforementioned study, or increasing fees at this time. However, looking at these traffic <br />models, they have to be very careful, because they might reduce commercial but could get sued <br />by residential developers. <br />Vice Chairman Davis thought the question was, "does no growth pay its own <br />way," and felt that raising impact fees could generate less revenue. <br />Commissioner Wheeler agreed with comments about the increasing and lowering <br />of fees, but did not think that was possible in the real world, because someone has to pay the bills <br />for the growth, the streets, and the infrastructure that we need. He argued that we are not paying <br />80% of our impact fees, we are paying about 50% of the impact with impact fees, and the other <br />50% comes from gas tax and the one cent optional sales tax, so there was a 50% reduction off the <br />top just looking at impact fees generally. He said we have to be careful and decide what we want <br />for infrastructure — how we are going to build it, and how we are going to pay for it. <br />Vice Chairman Davis did not agree fundamentally with that premise, and because <br />half of our roads or infrastructures are paid with gas and sales tax, he believed the economic <br />engine that creates more gas and sales tax is what we are trying to increase the fee on. He also <br />believed that if we were to reduce the impact fees on commercial/industrial we would generate <br />more sales tax and more jobs and other things that actually contribute to the economic base. He <br />did not believe those numbers were static; and did not believe that if you reduce impact fees by a <br />dollar, that sales tax or any other taxes that are generated in the business world, do not increase at <br />all. <br />Commissioner Flescher did not believe in treating the impact fee as a vacuum, <br />because as the impacts arrive, they also share their burden by paying the taxes and they are <br />actually part and parcel to the process. He remarked that we are separating and defining the <br />September 17, 2008 9 <br />Public Workshop <br />