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Pinellas wants to raise by 18 percent the fee builders pay to offset the cost of new roads.
By LISA GREENE, Times Staff Writer
© St. Petersburg Times, published June 4, 2002
Home builder Pete Krauser thinks he has written too many checks for $1,632.
That's the amount Krauser has to pay each time he builds a new house. The county charges the transportation impact fee to ensure that new homes and businesses pay for the extra roads they require.
But those checks that Krauser writes could be going up. Pinellas County commissioners will discuss a proposed 18 percent fee increase at their meeting today.
Krauser and many other business people don't want the fee increased; in fact, some would like to abolish the 1986 ordinance instead.
"It acts as a deterrent to new business," said Mike Meidel, president of the Clearwater Regional Chamber of Commerce. "Let's get rid of the transportation impact fee and replace it with something that would be fair and equitable."
But proponents say the fee is needed to offset the cost of growth, especially as congestion increases in densely populated Pinellas. The fees are supposed to be tied to the cost of road construction, but they haven't gone up in more than a decade.
"It's time to catch up with reality," said County Commissioner Bob Stewart. "We do have congestion. . . . If we're going to continue to develop and redevelop, we need to be responsible in the need to address increased transportation."
Stewart is chairman of the county's transportation planning board, which has recommended that the commission increase the fee 9 percent a year for two years. Commissioners will review the issue today, and then are expected to schedule a public hearing and vote for July 23.
The fee is applied throughout the county, except for special zones in downtown St. Petersburg, Safety Harbor and Pinellas Park. Those areas were exempted because officials there said no new development was planned and the fees stifled growth.
Last year, local governments collected about $3-million from the fee. The money is shared by the county and Pinellas' 24 municipalities.
Fees are based on a complex schedule that varies for different kinds of development. A new home is $1,632, whether it's a million-dollar mansion or a starter bungalow. That fee could go up to between $1,770 and $2,400.
Fees for a 6,000-square-foot office center are now almost $15,000 and could rise to about $16,000 to $22,000. Fees for a 10,000-square-foot retail center now are $25,490 and could increase to about $28,000 to $37,500.
The fee is charged only to new development. Tearing down an old house and rebuilding doesn't cost anything. Expand a restaurant, and you pay only for the expansion.
Russ Sloan, president of the St. Petersburg Area Chamber of Commerce, said the fee puts too much of a burden on new development.
"They're heaping the costs on a selected few," he said. "Do we want to drive development away?"
Krauser, who is president of Mark Maconi Homes and also of the Contractors and Builders Association of Pinellas County, said most builders pass along the cost of the fees to home buyers.
"By the time you pay the sewer impact fee, and the water impact fee, and the fire impact fee, and the building permit, we're writing checks for thousands and thousands of dollars," he said. "It really hurts homeowners."