Workshop will focus on rise in impact fee

Some say county services need more funding. Others fear builders and home buyers will be hurt. Today's workshop will hash it out.

By BRIDGET HALL

© St. Petersburg Times, published April 27, 2000

LECANTO -- Officials expect today's County Commission workshop on the proposed impact fee increases to bring out supporters and detractors of all kinds.

Under the proposal, impact fees for a single-family residence could jump from $1,460 to $2,301, the amount a consultant has recommended to update impact fee rates that have not been revised since 1990.

Today's workshop, starting at 9 a.m. in Room 166 of the Lecanto Government Building, will include those who say county services desperately need the increased funding and others who say the sharp increase will hurt builders and new homeowners.

There will also be those like Mike and Joyce Moore, who have more general concerns about the fairness of impact fees altogether.

The couple has lived in Inverness for the past five years and in Florida for much of their lives.

When they leave their Inverness home this fall to move to a new 21/2-acre farm in Crystal Hills, they will not bring with them any increased demand for county services.

But because they are the owners of a new home, they will pay the $1,460 tab in impact fees, designed to offset the cost of increasing county services in step with population growth.

Joyce Moore says she doesn't mind paying her fair share. Her complaint is that large developers can get a break on their impact fees even though lone residents can't.

This month, the County Commission approved a $1.1-million credit on recreation impact fees for Citrus Hills homes because the development has its own recreation center.

The commission also gave a $111,679 recreation impact fee credit to Canterbury Lakes because of its recreation facility.

"The rationale is that the new residents that will be going into that development will be able to utilize that facility," said Gary Maidhof, director of Development Services. "That reduces the impact on the county's recreational facilities."

So Moore asked commissioners if she could get the same break if she landscaped her acres like a park and vowed not to use county parks.

"If they're going to do it for Citrus Hills developers, they ought to do it for private homeowners," Moore said.

The commissioners denied her request, but Commissioner Vicki Phillips was intrigued with Moore's point and said the board should revisit its policy on recreation impact fee credits at its workshop today.

The other issues the board will consider at today's workshop include:

Whether churches and their related services, such as schools and day care centers, should continue to be exempt from paying impact fees. The consultant has suggested that churches pay impact fees because they contribute to growth, but the county's Planning and Development Review Board has supported the exemption, saying churches provide other benefits to the community.

How much the impact fees should be raised, if at all. The consultant has figured the new base rate, $2,802, that each resident should pay in order for growth to pay for itself, but counties rarely charge the full rate. Citrus County residents now pay just 85 percent of the old base rate, and commissioners could charge any percentage of the new base rate. They could even decide, for example, to charge 50 percent of the base rate for EMS impact fees while charging 75 percent of the base rate for transportation impact fees.

Whether to increase other funding sources instead. Some builders have suggested raising the gas tax to pay for improving roads that all residents use, instead of raising the transportation impact fee for the newcomers. Their case may be a difficult sell to commissioners who have previously vowed not to raise the gas tax.

After today's workshop, county staff will gather any information that commissioners may request on the proposed increases. The commission will then hold a public hearing in about a month, at which time they could vote on the proposed increases.

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