Are Proffers Good?

This article in Richmond BizSense  got me thinking about the proffer system and unfortunately, for Developers, Builders and Buyers of New Homes, the proffer system does exactly what it is designed to do. It taxes the two market participants that benefit from the infrastructure demands. The Builder/Developer and The Buyer. What is the alternative? Tax all property owners more, via the property tax, because that’s what would happen. You can’t just eliminate that revenue, especially when the County already has a multi-million dollar short fall. And “Impact Fees” are just proffers by another name.

What we SHOULD do is offer Tax Credits to offset the proffers for in-fill and redevelopment projects, because those create housing where infrastructure already exists. If I am a Buyer and I want to live in Sprawlville, then that cost should be passed down to me as a consumer through the builder (via the proffer.) That’s just good Economics.

And if buyers and builders don’t like the proffer, then they will move their projects to areas that have lower proffers, like counties with infrastructure or urban areas where redevelopment can take advantage of existing services. Our project Parham Estates is a perfect example of a in-fill project that is creating affordable houseing (new homes in the west end under $250k) where we utitlize existing infrastructure