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Leaders question proposed fee hikes

Planning board members are skeptical that impact fees need to be increased by as much as the county's consultant says. Commissioners make the final decision.

By CATHERINE E. SHOICHET
Published September 23, 2006

LECANTO - Increasing impact fees too much could squash small businesses, stymie economic development and put more financial pressure on taxpayers, members of the county's planning board said Friday.

In their first public discussion of proposed impact fee increases, several board members said they were skeptical of fees recommended by consultant Tindale-Oliver & Associates.

"Is somebody finagling these figures to increase our impact fees?" board alternate David Langer said.

Construction costs "have gone out of sight," Tindale-Oliver vice president Bob Wallace said. And the fees, he said, represent the true cost of building public infrastructure in Citrus County.

Impact fees, which are levied on new construction, are designed to pay for the infrastructure needs generated by growth. Citrus County has eight impact fees to help fund schools, libraries, parks and recreation, emergency medical services, public buildings, transportation, fire rescue, and law enforcement.

The consultant's report, released last month, recommends increasing impact fees for residential and commercial construction. The amount of impact fees a builder would have to pay depends on the size and type of project.

Builders of a 1,501- to 2,499-square-foot single-family home, for example, would have to pay more than $17,500. Currently, they would pay $6,664.65.

To come up with the numbers, consultants weighed data provided by county officials and factors, including how much time people spend at home, how far they travel and the services they use when they leave.

Their original report recommended new fees of $16,887.43.

But estimates from school district officials about the cost of a new elementary school - at more than $26-million - upped the ante. That, Wallace said Friday, is a sign of increasing construction costs faced by governments across the state.

Morris Harvey, chairman of the Citrus County Council's fiscal watch committee, said he represented a large number of people in favor of raising impact fees "to full legal levels."

The fees, he said, are the "best resource for local government to manage and pay for growth impacts."

But opponents of the dramatic fee hikes came to Friday's meeting armed with their own facts and figures.

Kirk Sorenson, a consultant for the Citrus County Builders Association, said Tindale-Oliver's report contains inconsistencies and makes "assumptions that are questionable."

He said the estimated cost in the study for building 1 mile of a one-lane roadway - $4.26-million - is significantly higher than the number other nearby local governments use.

"The builders do not have a problem with paying impact fees," he said. "They have a problem with paying overstated impact fees."

Sorenson said he would complete his analysis in seven to 10 days.

Randy Clark of Clark Construction said the proposed fees would cause "major economic problems" and urged board members to gradually impose impact fees.

"We're better off to take this in slow increments," he said. "If we slam it all down now, we may be trying to dig ourselves out of an economic hole that we don't want to be in."

Last year, Citrus raised impact fees for libraries, roads, public buildings and schools. But the Planning and Development Review Board never formally weighed in on those fees - a move that drew extensive criticism from county commissioners.

On Friday, planning board members said they will take a stand this time.

To do that, board members James Kellner and Raymond Hughes said they need more information about impact fees in other counties.

Board member J.J. Bard said high fees would stop mom-and-pop businesses from starting up or expanding. Board member Dwight Hooper said impact fees punish people for succeeding. Board member Marion Knudsen said they were another sign that Citrus County was becoming unaffordable for many.

"The cost of living in this county is just too steep," Knudsen said. "Ordinary people are just being taxed out."

The planning board will meet again at 9 a.m. Oct. 16 to evaluate the consultant's report, listen to comments from the public and issue its final recommendation.

County commissioners have the final say. But they won't take up the issue until after the November general election.

They will have a workshop on impact fees Dec. 7 and vote at a hearing Jan. 25.

Catherine E. Shoichet can be reached at cshoichet@sptimes.com or 860-7309.

[Last modified September 23, 2006, 06:54:47]