Last Tuesday the Windham Town Council was scheduled to have a council meeting that included two public hearings on proposed impact fees and later agenda items to vote to approve or not approve those impact fees. This might seem no different than crying over spilt milk because this column, although written before the council’s actions, will have been printed after the councilors voted on those two impact fees.

I generally agree with anything government can do that limits increases on any taxes I would have to pay, and impact fees supposedly were designed to do just that by curbing the higher cost growth causes on some things as infrastructure and schools.

One of the proposed impact fees would help pay for a portion of the costs associated with the alignment of Whites Bridge Road and Anglers Road where they intersect Route 302 along with other improvements to Route 302. This fiasco happened because a prior town council allowed the Windham Economic Development Corporation to purchase the land around the Anglers Road-Route 302 intersection, which is something I still call stupid.

Previous developers couldn’t do anything unless a lot of money was sunk into that intersection so I don’t think any new development on the North Windham 302 corridor should have to pay impact fees. Rather, I think all of those behind the purchase of that property by the WEDC and the approval by the Town Council should be the ones paying.

The other impact fee would be used for the purchase and development of recreational areas in Windham and the cost of the impact fee would be placed on new residential construction. This seems logical except for the fact that Windham is probably way behind where it should be on such facilities such as fields for soccer, baseball or other sports as well as parks or playgrounds. If there were no alternative in obtaining funds, I would agree with an even higher impact fee on all new construction in Windham to pay for additional recreation areas. However, there is an answer staring all of us right in the face and that is Dundee Park, which has a fee in place for those who desire to use its assets.

I have no problem paying for the convenience for using the Maine Turnpike or anything else for that matter. I don’t ask anyone to pay for that, so I firmly believe that it’s high time to do the same with recreational areas and other things in Windham. I look at the dire financial straits that government is in at all levels and wonder why it is getting worse and worse. Too often I have wondered why Windham, a town of 17,000 citizens, can’t afford to staff town hall five days a week. Are the taxes being squandered for something else by the town councilors and manager? Are there too many fingers in the pie that someone goes without? Or is it the fact that some think the town’s bank account should be raided for what they perceive as necessary for themselves?

What I found strange when doing research on impact fees is while some towns are implementing impact fees, others are doing away with them. It is important to remember that impact fees have to be used for the purpose that they were created for, which is something I don’t trust any level of government being capable of. I have been waiting for years for the funds collected from the North Windham TIF zones to do some substantial infrastructure improvements but instead to the best of my knowledge the North Windham business district still looks like it hasn’t undergone any construction improvements to date. Should I expect anything different with impact fees?

I remember a saying that says don’t forget when you are up to your elbows in alligators, your initial objective was to drain the swamp. That hasn’t been the history of Windham’s elected and appointed officials since I have lived here. I have no reason to believe that implementing impact fees will do anything differently.

Lane Hiltunen of Windham wonders what comes after impact fees.