DEVELOPMENT IMPACT FEE ADOPTION AND ITS EFFECTS IN TEXAS

The purpose of my thesis is to study what factors affect the adoption of impact fees in Texas and what effects impact fees have on city budgets. This research was done using two models. The first model looked at the adoption of impact fees as the dependent variable and the second model looked at the total impact fee assed on new residential units as the dependent variable. Both models used the gross tax rate, debt per capita, change in city population as a percentage, city population, average price of a new home in 2007, number of building permits issued in 2007, and the average household income as independent variables. The most significant independent variable found for the assessment of impact fees is change in population as a percentage. The total impact fee charged per city was driven by several factors. These included change in population as a percentage, population, and gross tax rate