Nye County Gets It

From the Pahrump Valley Times: We think the county commission is on the right track with this new one-year impact fee moratorium.
The board passed the resolution by a 4-1 vote. Hopefully, it spurs new business development in the community.
Pahrump’s especially high unemployment rate — 15.3 percent at latest count — equates to desperation for jobs around here. Now’s as good a time as any for reducing the up-front burden on entrepreneurs who wish to open a small business. Small or large, impact fees have historically been viewed by some in the business community as akin to a kidney punch.
Almost 70 percent of up-front costs, sometimes into the hundreds of thousands of dollars, depending on the size of the business, come from county impact fees alone. Forget what it costs to hook up sewer. Forget the cost to hook up a power line. No, they are often far less than what the county charges just as the price of admission.
The builder of a 100,000-square-foot retail store would have paid $253,000 in impact fees in Pahrump before the last commission meeting. Compare that with the more than $101,800 that Mesquite charges for the same business, or the $117,600 in Las Vegas. The only community that out-charges Pahrump is Reno. A 100,000-square-foot retail store there will pay $761,100 in the biggest little city.
Some real world examples of the county’s fees in action? Builders of the Home Depot store in Pahrump had to pay $317,890.34 in impact fees, according to figures from the Pahrump Building and Safety Department. The impact fees levied on the new Family Dollar store on Homestead Road totaled $25,573.03. Tom Saitta, who built Tomassino’s Restaurant, was charged $18,076.94 in impact fees for the restaurant.
http://pvtimes.com/news/editorial-board-countys-impact-fee-moratorium-a-food-business-decision/
Nye County put a 1 year moratorium on the impact fees in hopes of some businesses finding a home in Nye County.
Perhaps Clark County, Henderson, the City of Las Vegas and North Las Vegas will do the same thing and reduce the cost of doing business in the Clark County area.  But this is probably wishful thinking.  In Nye County, most officials are Republicans, who actually know a thing or two about business while in Clark
County, most of the elected leaders are Democrats, most of whom would rather tax and spend than help small business.  They tend to think small businesses are the piggy banks of  local government.
So, good for Nye County and I hope this works for them.  After all, Nye County has clean up after Coward Crybaby Harry Reid and the mess he created for Nye County.