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Reason for fee hike is questioned

A commissioner claims "deceptive" enrollment projections led to a recent vote raising impact fees for schools.

By LETITIA STEIN
Published September 1, 2006

TAMPA - Hillsborough County Commissioner Brian Blair wants to reopen the decision to increase impact fees for classrooms, saying school leaders provided deceptive growth projections.

He said Thursday he will ask commissioners to revisit the fee increase when they meet next week.

In late July, Blair was on the losing end of a 4-3 vote to increase the assessment on a typical new home from $196 to $4,000.

That was before Hillsborough school officials said enrollment growth was lagging far behind projections. The district was expecting 5,100 new students this year. So far, it has seen just over 1,300.

"We were told there would be a student tsunami," Blair said. "We were actually deceived by the school leaders."

The fee approved by the commission would add $2,000 to the cost of an average home approved for construction starting in November. It would climb another $2,000 starting in August 2007.

Commissioner Mark Sharpe, who supported the increase, met with school officials Thursday to learn more about the slowing enrollment growth.

He said he isn't going to change his vote at this time. But he wants to reconvene the task force that recommended the fee increase. He said it should meet again next year, before the second $2,000 hike is phased in.

"We certainly would want to do everything we can to keep the increase in fees as low as possible," said Sharpe, who noted that Hillsborough continues to add students, if not as many as in the past.

"I did not cast my vote to increase impact fees based upon one year's numbers," he said.

Commissioner Tom Scott, who is running against Sharpe in the general election, also supported the increased assessments for schools. He thinks the school district ought to explain what happened.

"I think the School Board owes us an explanation about why there is such a big difference," said Scott. "We've been given information contrary to what we now know; however, I recognize that the impact fee was so low that it needs to be raised somewhat."

He said talk of changing votes is premature.

Scott recently received a letter from Ralph Hughes, an east Hillsborough activist who opposed the impact fee increase. Written on the stationery of Cast-Crete Corp., a precast concrete building materials manufacturing company he owns, the letter stated that school officials had misled the community. It asked the commissioners who supported the increase to do away with it.

Along with Scott and Sharpe, Commissioners Kathy Castor and Ken Hagan supported raising the fees, which hadn't risen since 1989.

Castor said she isn't changing her mind.

"It was long past due to have the developers and newcomers pay their fair share," she said. "While there may be a short respite from the continuous development in Hillsborough County, it's going to come back."

She said any move to lower the impact fee, which was based on an outside study, could risk having the entire assessment thrown out in court.

Hagan could not be reached.

The increased fees are still needed, said Jim Hamilton, a school administrator for special projects. He said no one knows if a statewide dropoff in student growth is a one-time event or a new trend.

"We'd like that decision to be maintained," he said of the fee increase. "We think they did a good thing."

Times staff writer Bill Varian contributed to this report. Letitia Stein can be reached at lstein@sptimes.com or 813 226-3400.

[Last modified September 1, 2006, 05:48:11]