TONOPAH -- A plan to waive impact fees for businesses creating jobs died at the Nye County Commission meeting Tuesday. The stickler was Nye County would have to make up the amount to be waived.

Nye County collected more than $3.01 million in impact fees from the time the ordinance took effect in September 2005 through April 30, 2007. Home Depot would have to pay $242,585 in impact fees when it pulls a building permit for its new store in Pahrump under the ordinance.

The original draft of the proposal would waive impact fees for businesses employing at least 50 people at an average pay at least 20 percent higher than the average pay for Nye County as determined by the bureau of labor statistics.

It would also waive the fees for a base industry that employs at least 15 people, a base industry being an establishment that obtains at least 75 percent of its revenue from customers or sources outside Nye County.

The revised draft by Nye County development attorney Mark White deleted the exemptions for economic development after the county commission's request. It retained exemptions for charitable organizations meeting the proper definitions.

White inserted language to clarify that other developers who pay impact fees -- which amount to $1,995.66 for the builder of a detached, single-family home -- wouldn't have to pay any more to make up the shortfall. That was a major complaint of the Southern Nevada Home Builders Association.

"Impact fees for people who don't get a waiver stay the same, their fees do not increase," White said. "The county has to find the money somewhere to finance the rest of the capital improvement program and it has to find that revenue from non impact fee revenues."

The county wouldn't immediately have to write a check into the capital improvement program, he said.

Ed Garcia, an attorney representing the Southern Nevada Home Builders Association, said, "There's still some concerns on behalf of my client as to how this will actually take effect.

"The law say the only people that can receive those waivers are the schools," Garcia said.

White said he couldn't foresee a circumstance where a home builder would be required to pay more impact fees which are limited by state statute.

But Commissioner Joni Eastley said she didn't support the ordinance, a sentiment endorsed by fellow commissioners Peter Liakopoulos and Roberta "Midge" Carver. Eastley felt decisions to waive the impact fees could be based more on the ability of the county to make up the difference in cost rather than the worthiness of the project.

The original intent to waive impact fees came on behalf of a request to expand First Southern Baptist Church last fall under a previous county commission.

The waivers would also have applied to developments that don't create a demand on capital improvements, like antennas and cellular towers, tree farms, home occupations, livestock facilities, recreational vehicles or mobile homes as temporary residences.

"Apparently the changes that were made were too much for people to bear. I didn't really like the idea of people from Las Vegas coming over to tell us how to write our ordinance," Commissioner Butch Borasky said afterwards. Borasky said it would be an incentive for businesses coming in offering good paying jobs, like $20 per hour.

"If somebody was to bring in 100 or 200 jobs that would have an impact with all of the payroll and the money rolling over in the community we could consider maybe helping them a little bit," Borasky said.