 |
||||||||
 |
||||||||
|
||||||||
|
Builders question impact fee debate
By KENT FISCHER © St. Petersburg Times, published January 18, 2001 LAND O'LAKES -- When builder Steve Hedrick spoke out against a proposed education impact fee during the Pasco County School Board meeting Tuesday night, he was met with a frightening ultimatum. Double sessions, the board and its attorney warned, loomed if the impact fee didn't pass. "Our backs are to the wall," board member Marge Whaley told Hedrick. "It's either this (an impact fee) or double sessions." So Hedrick was surprised -- and a little miffed -- to learn on Wednesday that the district isn't even considering double sessions, which mean students at the same school attend classes on a rotating schedule. Two top district administrators said that, even without the impact fee, the district is at least four years away from double sessions, and even then it would be an option of last resort. "So was that just a ploy?" said Hedrick, who represents Suarez Housing Corp. "It was kind of a threat, and they kept saying that they had no choice but to vote the way they did. "I think they were saying just about anything to get me to sit down." Whaley said after the meeting that she didn't intend for those at the public meeting to infer from her comments that double sessions were imminent. Whaley said she was just trying to impress upon the builders that the district has to tap every source of revenue it can to keep up with a student body that grows by about 1,200 students a year. "I meant that (without the fee) we'll have to look at double sessions down the road because we don't have enough money coming in," Whaley said after the meeting. "I don't know how we'll survive. We're bursting and we don't have the money." Nevertheless, builders said they left the meeting thinking that the impact fee was the only way for the district to avoid double sessions. "They pretty much said it's this way or the highway," said Alex Mourtakos, a marketing director for Image Custom Homes who also spoke against the impact fee at Tuesday's meeting. Even Chuck Rushe, the district's chief financial officer, said he was surprised to hear Whaley's comment to Hedrick. After closing discussion on the issue, the board voted 5-0 to ask the Pasco County Commission to impose the impact fee on new home construction. The exact amount hasn't been nailed down, but school officials have estimated the impact fee could add between $1,000 to $1,500 to the cost of a new home. Impact fees are assessed on new home construction to offset the government's increased costs of roads, sewers and other other public services the new homes need. Several district administrators have also said publicly that the quickest way to slow Pasco's growth is to put district schools on double sessions, giving young families a reason to think twice about relocating here. That threat was again levied at Tuesday's meeting by board lawyer Joe McClain. "Some people could construe that as a threat," Mourtakos said. Both Mourtakos and Hedrick said they didn't think the spectre of double sessions would slow growth anyway. One thing nobody disputes is that the district needs to build more schools. Seven new schools have opened since 1996 and three more are nearing completion. In 1991, 34,383 students ments are expected to top 45,300. The proposed fee is expected to generate about $4-million a year, enough to build a new elementary school every three or four years. However, the district grows each year by the equivalent of two elementary schools. Although the district has issued bonds to pay for new schools four times since 1986, its most reliable source of income for new schools is local property taxes. Those brought in about $19-million this year, but about $7-million of that goes to pay off debt on past bond issues, and another $8-million pays for new school buses, computer equipment and other upgrades. That leaves about $4-million annually to go toward construction. "We don't have a steady, reliable source of revenue to turn to" for construction, Rushe said. "Every couple of years we get a big influx through bond sales and that's taken the pressure off, but I don't know when that next influx will be." Hedrick said if double sessions aren't imminent, the board should consider an alternative to an impact fee. Hedrick suggested that the board consider a tax on all home sales that would bring in more money and take the burden off families that are buying new homes. "(The district is) so desperate for money that they're grabbing at every dollar they can," Hedrick said. "If double sessions aren't imminent, then let's take a step back." - Kent Fischer covers education in Pasco County. He can be reached in west Pasco at 869-6241 or (800) 333-7505, ext. 6241. His e-mail address is href=mailto:kfischer@sptimes.com>kfischer@sptimes.com.
 © 2006 • All Rights Reserved • St. Petersburg Times
490 First Avenue South • St. Petersburg, FL 33701 • 727-893-8111 
|
From today's Pasco Times |
