Building Contractors Association of Idaho

PRESS RELEASE

For more than a decade the City of Pocatello has implemented an unfair and unconstitutional formula for the calculating of water and sewer connection fees. These fees have been increased dramatically from around $300 per dwelling in 1997 to over $5,000 currently. For many years, the Building Contractors Association of South East Idaho (Builders Ass’n) has encouraged the City to replace its connection fee regime with one that is legal, meaning that it is proportionate to and directly tied to the purposes in which the fees are collected.

After many empty promises, and resistance, and after reviewing tens of thousands of documents obtained through the “Freedom of Information Act,” as a last resort the Builders Ass’n has filed a lawsuit asking the court to suspend its connection fee policies until the City does enact a fair and proper fee collection formula that meets the Court’s approval.

The City’s records obtained by the Builders Ass’n reveal egregious violations of the law, including millions of dollars in fees that were improperly transferred to the City’s general revenue fund. Amazingly, the City ignored advice it sought from the Idaho State Attorney General’s office, which had informed the City that this practice was unlawful. The records also indicate the City spent millions on dozens of water and sewer projects to “expand the system” without first seeking public approval through the bond election procedures.

The Builders Ass’n’s complaint alleges that connection fees collected by the City have no real “nexus” to the intended purposes of the fees, but instead were utilized primarily as a “revenue raiser” unfairly foisted on a small segment of the population. .” In essence, the law prevents governmental entities from imposing a fee as a “disguised tax.” This is a violation of both the Idaho and United States constitution, and has its basis in the foundational principal of “no taxation without representation

The City’s improper fee policies have also had a noticeable and detrimental effect on the local economy. The exponential increase in connection fees has contributed greatly to the decline of the new home and commercial building construction. These fees have literally made many new homes unaffordable and/or have simply priced developers and potential buyers out of the market. This in turn, ironically, has deprived the local economy of tens of millions of dollars in lost income, tax revenue and hundreds of jobs.

Attachments:

BCASEI Connector Fee Complaint

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