Newcomers have obligation to pay

Thank you, letter writer Larry Allen, for further clarifying my letter to the editor on the costs of growth to our community and who pays.

As a builder bent on protecting the taxpayer, Allen wants to eliminate the impact fees on new construction.

Allen needs to explain to this community - and, in particular, to Craig D. Lombard, a recent letter-writer whose taxes have risen 15.24 percent in the past year - how the infrastructure costs will be paid, and by whom, if they aren't charged to new residents.

With houses running between $100,000 and $350,000, to say that impact fees of $3,000 (average) prevent people from buying homes is ludicrous.

Clearly, people who can afford housing in today's market can pay, and have a responsibility to the current resident taxpayers to pay more fully the costs they bring to the community

They will go on our tax rolls and help support the community as we all do, but those taxes, once again, do not cover the full costs of each new resident coming after them. We're forever falling behind as the community grows.

As for our (supposed) crumbling inner city Olympia is offering a 10-year moratorium on property taxes for developers of inner city housing. Along with these projects our taxes are going toward ravaging the Grass Lake area with housing developments and subsidizing a large church moving into a rural neighborhood.

Who wins?

Kathleen Rooney/Olympia