By Jennifer Edwards
The Cincinnati Enquirer

LEBANON - About 100 Warren County elected officials turned out Thursday at the first countywide summit on imposing impact fees on new homes in this fast-growing county.

Warren County Commissioners called for the session - the first of several to be held this year as they push the controversial move.

Commissioners advocate a $3,000 to $10,000 impact fee on each new home as a way to pay for new schools and slow growth.

Warren County is the second-fastest-growing county in Ohio.

"The new growth that is coming to Warren County is causing a tremendous burden on our taxpayers," Commissioner Mike Kilburn told the crowd.

"When you get a tax bill, somewhere from 70 to 80 percent goes to the public schools. The growth that we are experiencing in this county is headed for a collision course if we don't plan a little bit for the future," he said. "I truly want to slow this growth down because if we don't, we won't know this county 20 years from now."

But the county will need a state lawmaker to craft legislation to grant them the authority to impose the fees - and that could prove difficult. Commissioners want the fees to be voluntary, not mandatory, for counties in Ohio to collect, saying it should be applied per square footage of each new home.

But State Rep. Tom Raga, R-Mason, has told the Enquirer that impact fees are not his priority and that he thinks there are other ways the county can control growth.

The Dayton suburb of Beavercreek set the state precedent for cities to impose impact fees in 2000.

Warren County Commissioners say there is growing support across the state for impact fees. The County Commissioners Association of Ohio lists impact fees among their legislative priorities for 2003-2004. The Ohio Farm Bureau also has endorsed the fees.

Warren County grew by 39 percent in the 1990s.

Now, 171,000 people live in the county, which is predicted to grow 6 to 8 percent each year during the next 30 years.

"All you gotta do is turn on the television at night and listen to how things are in Hamilton County in Cincinnati," Kilburn said. "No one wants to live down there anymore, guys. They all want to have the good life like we've got here in Warren County. But guess what? If we fill up this 10-gallon can too quick, we're going to be just like them and I don't want to turn Warren County into one solid sheet of concrete."

Commissioners have hired a consultant to assist them in their quest for impact fees. He gave a presentation Thursday explaining what the fees are and how they work.

They exist in more than 20 states and emerged two decades ago in high-growth Sun Belt coastal states such as Florida, said Caleb Faux of Lebanon, an expert on impact fees who helped Beavercreek officials with their case.

Faux said Warren County must clearly define what the fees will be for and how the money, which only can be used on capital improvements, will be spent.

"You have to have a good fee calculation so you don't get shot down in court," Faux said.

But some elected officials who attended Thursday's 90-minute session were skeptical. Hamilton Township Trustee Clyde Baston said he was against the fees because he fears they will reduce affordable housing.

"My kids can't afford to live in Warren County now," Baston said. "We are going to price people out of the county. I have a lot of questions and concerns."

Mason Mayor John McCurley told commissioners he was undecided.

"I don't want to say I am opposed to it but there are other ways to balance the growth," he said.

Erica Solvig contributed to this report.

E-mail jedwards@enquirer.com.