City officials Wednesday decided to delay voting on a tentative compromise with the county's council of governments that they hoped would provide a balance between getting more money for the Highway 152 bypass and remaining affordable for businesses interested in coming to town.</p><p>Public Works Director Dwayne Chisam spelled out the dire consequences Los Ba&#241;os could be facing by not approving the Merced County Association of Governments request for increased Regional Transportation Impact Fees.</p><p>"We all know that the state and federal funding is very limited and it's not coming along as it had in the past. If the RTIF source of funding is greatly reduced it is very likely that you will find the bypass project will have a fatal delay," Chisam said. </p><p>The regional impact fee was put in place in August of 2005. It is a fee that developers pay when they build a project in the county that will increase traffic levels. The money collected then goes into a fund to be used for regional traffic projects. The Highway 152 bypass is one of 13 projects receiving RTIF dollars, but it is No. 1 on MCAG's list and is slated to receive 47 percent of the money collected through the fee.</p><p>MCAG Executive Director Jesse Brown said the Merced County Board of Supervisors approved the new fees this week and a handful of other cities were moving in the same direction.</p><p>Mayor Tommy Jones implored his fellow council members not to make him have to sit at the next MCAG meeting and tell other cities that Los Ba&#241;os did not pass the fee even though its bypass project is the primary benefactor of it.</p><p>"What I'm begging the council to look at is it's more than just right now, this is more than just us," he said.</p><p>Jones said every city paying the RTIF fee has a project and if they pass the rate hike and Los Ba&#241;os does not MCAG may remove the bypass as its top priority.</p><p>Councilman Joe Sousa agreed. He said the city is in danger of undoing all of former Mayor Michael Amabile's work to move the bypass forward.</p><p>In May MCAG requested Los Ba&#241;os pass an ordinance that would have doubled or nearly doubled traffic impact fees for various types of developments. The city decided to negotiate the terms instead.</p><p>During the past six weeks city officials met with MCAG personnel and tentatively agreed to spread the RTIF payments out for five years. Wednesday MCAG's proposal included an RTIF increase from $1,830 per 1,000 square feet for general retail commercial businesses to $4,146 per 1,000 square feet. The proposed fee for retail businesses that generate a lot of traffic was $12,082 per 1,000 square feet, more than $6,800 higher than what the fee is now. Homes builders would have also seen an increase between $1,000 and $1,800 per unit.</p><p>Some council members feared the fees will discourage businesses from coming to Los Ba&#241;os.</p><p>"I'm making a decision on economic survival," Councilman Mike Villalta said. "I'm not totally against this fee, but I'm against this fee right now. We have to look at our economic indicators and our economic indicators aren't doing to well right now."</p><p>Councilman Tom Faria said he is also worried about the impact on businesses. </p><p>"You get more of what you subsidize and you get less of what you tax. No government ever taxed itself out of a recession and we aren't going to do it now," Faria said. </p><p>Businessman Sam Watson wrote the city a letter stating he is against the city raising the fees by any amount.</p><p>Sousa said Watson's letter is typical of what you will get from the business community.</p><p>"If you ask any business, if the fee is five or five thousand, they aren't going to like it," Sousa said.</p><p>Jones said businesses are coming to town because they believe they can make a profit.</p><p>"If they see rooftops they're coming," Jones said before emphasizing the five-year compromise the city formed with MCAG. "This is not going to run business away. It will entice them because they're paying less."</p><p>Councilwoman Anna Brooks said she does not want to lose sight that the money is needed for the bypass project.</p><p>"If we're not collecting it now then when can we get it?" she asked.</p><p>Brooks offered a compromise of only increasing the fees for commercial development by 25 percent of what MCAG proposed. Her plan was voted down.</p><p>Sousa proposed passing the proposal in its original form with payments divided annually for five years. His proposal was also voted down.</p><p>Chisam said the city will be reviewing its own traffic fees in September. He suggested revisiting the idea closer to that time.</p><p>The council agreed to postponed further RTIF discussion until August.</p><p><i>Enterprise staff writer Corey Pride can be reached at 388-6563 or cpride@losbanosenterprise.com</i>