With the fall election season approaching, questions over how to solve a myriad of issues will be on peoples' minds. Voters and non-voters alike are sure to be bombarded by candidate circulars and misleading TV ads.

One issue that will undoubtedly come up in some form or other concerns how to pay for the costs of population growth and who should do the paying. Invariably, one option that's often proposed is "systems development charges."

Systems development charges, or SDCs, are fees that local governments in Oregon charge in order to compensate for at least some of the impact that housing growth has on a community. The concept of SDCs is similar to that of the Mello-Roos tax in California, where municipalities charge residents an annual tax to pay back loans incurred to pay for improvements like schools and parks, which are typically needed to compensate for the influx of new residents created by new housing construction.

In Oregon, however, SDCs amount to one-time fees that are charged to a builder or developer whenever a new building or subdivision is constructed. Oregon SDCs also differ from the Mello-Roos tax in that they are not allowed to pay for education or for construction of new schools. SDCs in Oregon also are not allowed to fund the operating costs of any agency, such as police or fire departments. SDCs are allowed only for capital improvements, which means paying for the purchase of equipment or facilities.

State law further limits the use of SDCs to certain kinds of improvements, more specifically those relating to facilities for either drainage and flood control, parks and recreation, transportation, water systems or sewage systems. The legislature's intent when it created the law allowing SDCs was to make new developments pay to offset the impact those developments were having on residents who were already living in the communities where the developments sprang up.

However, legislative restrictions on SDCs can make it difficult for school districts and public safety agencies to adjust rapidly enough to meet increased demands on their services caused by the population growth from new housing construction. On the other hand, many advocates for causes such as affordable housing, property rights and low taxes argue that making developers alone pay to alleviate the effects of growth is an unfair burden.

Developers only pass the costs on to home buyers, making homes even less affordable. Moreover, new home buyers who pay SDCs pay to compensate for the adverse impacts of their new housing, but who pays the new home buyers back for the positive impacts of their new housing¾increased business activity, more job opportunities, a higher property tax base, etc.? And while only new home buyers pay SDCs, all community residents reap the benefits from the SDCs collected, even though many of those residents didn't pay.

SDCs can be quite high in some municipalities, and economists and other experts say high SDCs in some areas, such as the City of Portland, are driving population from those areas.

Portland charges SDCs on all types of residential construction, as well as on development of commercial and industrial properties. The city's SDC charges on a typical single-family home in 2004 totaled $7,981, which included $1,630 for parks, $1,596 for transportation, $2,335 for water, and $2,420 for sewers.

Portland's SDC charges are in addition to all the costs that developers are required to pay for street, sidewalk and lighting improvements, sewer connections, water connections, design review, permit and inspection fees, and so on.

SDCs can add as much as about 5 percent to the price a buyer pays for a single-family home, depending on a home's location, size, features and the municipality where it's built. The added cost for a home can climb to nearly 10 percent when all governmental fees are included.

In the final analysis, whether SDCs are the right choice for solving problems associated with growth is a personal choice that often varies by a person's social philosophy and economic situation. Whatever your opinion, be sure to let your representatives know, and don't forget to vote this fall.