Maple Valley City Council voted to approve a new School Impact Fee (SIF) as a part of the 2011-2016 Capital Facilities Plan at its Nov. 28 meeting.

The new SIF raises the single family permit fee from $7,791 to $7,896, a $105 increase.

The multiple family fee was raised from $2,920 to $3063, a $143 increase.The SIF is based on the annual capital improvement project by the Tahoma School District.

After determining which programs are needed due to new students, the district reports how many more classrooms will be required to accommodate students.

Community Development Director Ty Peterson explained that the SIF has increased steadily during the past four years due to a number of factors, such as the increase of construction costs and the higher student rate.

He also attributed it to the Tahoma School District’s $125 million bond measure which failed at the polls in April.

“It would have gone way down had the bond proposal passed last spring,” he said.