Should Development Fees be Raised During the Weak Economy?

During City Council this evening, item number 22 on the adgenda discussed the establishment of development fees for builders in Greeley, Colorado. This item had been previously discussed during the City Council meeting that took place on September 15, 2009. Tim Nash, Greeley Finance Director presented an extensive presentation to the City Council as well as the citizens. In his presentation, he proposed in depth facts and statistics of the impact fees in order to persuade the council members to vote in favor of the ordinance. Basically, the ordinance if passed, would hurt small businesses and real estate in the city of Greeley. I found it very interesting when Scott Renfroe, a Greeley resident and a member of the Colorado State Senate, approached council members with the fact that he gets on average five calls a week regarding the increase on vehicle registration. He made a great point that if people can't afford to pay for simple things such as this then how are they going to pay an increase on developmental fees? Tony Belfiore also showed a very strong opinion this evening. He mentioned that he has been a builder for 30 years and this is the first year he will not build anything. Council members agreed that this is not a great time to be raising any type of fees due to the poor economy, especially in residential areas. I also found it interesting that Greeley is trying to raise fees when in fact the neighboring cities are lowering fees to try and help the citizens. Won't this just push people and businesses out of Greeley?