The Chesterfield Board of Supervisors will hold a public hearing on May 28 to consider raising proffers on new homes in the county by 48 percent. County staff has recommended increasing the maximum proffer to $23,072 from its current maximum of $15,600 enacted in 2005.

Proffers are the fees that developers pay in order to rezone land to build new homes in Chesterfield and pay for the services - roads, school, libraries, fire/EMS and parks and recreation - that new residents expect. The fee is the same regardless of whether the new home is single-family, townhouse, condominium or apartment. The fee is collected when the building permit is applied for.

Budget and Management Director Allan Carmody said his department is reviewing the data that determines the proffer amount, and that maximum amount could change before the public hearing. The $23,072 proposed amount is based on one-year old data.

"This is a pretty sweeping change and not a tweaking of the policy," said Carmody.

County staff also recommends that the Marshall and Swift Building Index be applied automatically to adjust proffers annually, based on the building materials for the southeast region. In the past three years the index has gone up 15.9 percent, which could raise the maximum proffer to $18,080 for previously approved zoning cases for homes that haven't been built.

"We want the Marshall and Swift Index to be automatic," said County Administrator Jay Stegmaier. Other proposed amendments to the proffer policy would likely hike them because of delays in building after rezoning approval.

In December, 2006, the previous board members declined to raise proffers, saying they were sympathetic to arguments from the development industry. Those included being a significant impact on first-time homebuyers and that the home building industry was being singled out for a tax.

"With the state of the real estate market now, this is definitely not a good time to raise proffers," said Warren Wakeland, spokesperson for the Richmond Home Building Association.

According to Wakeland, House of Delegates Speaker Bill Howell was supposed to have written a letter to all local governments that impose proffers in Virginia urging them not to raise proffers until the legislature resolves what to do about tabled Senate Bill 768 proposed by State Senator John Watkins. That bill could provide a different method for coping with new residential growth than the current proffer system.

"We've heard about the letter but haven't received one," said Chesterfield Board Chairman Art Warren. "What I will recommend depends on what the letter says."

Warren represents Chesterfield in the Virginia Association of Counties, which meets this week. He wanted to know what other counties with a proffer system were doing about their maximum proffers.

Check out more stories in this edition of the Chesterfield Observer, now a weekly publication.