Value of the impact fee
Fortifying battered bridges. Upgrading a health center. Much-needed road maintenance. Repairing water lines.
These are some of the needs that were met by impact fee money that flowed to communities in Washington and Greene counties as a result of the natural gas development that has overtaken the region in the last five years. The many ways communities spent the windfall was outlined in two stories in the Observer-Reporter Sunday.
The impact fee money has, without a doubt, been a boon to communities that were struggling for years with shrinking tax bases and straitened budgets. However, there was some fidgeting and hand wringing at the prospect a severance tax, which is a key component of Gov. Tom Wolf’s recently announced budget, would stop the revenue spigot to the area and send it all to one kitty in Harrisburg.
Wolf pledged communities directly affected by drilling would continue to receive the same level of revenue under his plan. Sometimes, however, the best of intentions can be lost amid the haggling and horse-trading that will happen between now and the approval of a severance tax, if it does, in fact, happen. And while a severance tax would serve the commonwealth as a whole, communities that are bearing the greatest burden should continue to receive a substantial share of the benefits.
Let’s hope state lawmakers continue to keep that in mind.