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The developer and builder dominated committee wants taxes added to pay half of the $40-million to build new parks.
By JAMES THORNER
© St. Petersburg Times, published November 8, 2001
NEW PORT RICHEY -- A group of developers and builders said they really, really want to support a Pasco County plan to charge buyers of new homes an extra $892 for parks.
But the price of their support -- passage of a new county tax to supplement the $892 park impact fee -- might be too steep for Pasco County commissioners.
At a meeting Wednesday at the West Pasco Government Center, the developer dominated Impact Fee Advisory Committee complained the fee was an unfair burden on its industry, particularly during the economic downturn.
"Now is the wrong time to consider something like this," said west Pasco real east agent Mark Swartsel.
The impact fee would raise an estimated $20-million over 10 years to help build giant parks in athletically underserved Wesley Chapel and other locations.
But builders complained that the fee would cover only half of the $40-million worth of parks outlined in a consultant's study this past spring.
In the absence of a new tax to cover the $20-million deficit -- in June commissioners narrowly rejected creating a special property tax to do just that -- builders refused to support the fee.
Swartsel pointed out that commissioners have been "gun shy" about new taxes, especially since the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks.
A proposal in late September to accelerate a voters' referendum for a 1 percent increase in the county sales tax got a rough reception from a majority of commissioners.
Two commissioners, Pat Mulieri and Steve Simon, are up for re-election next year. Neither wants to be labeled a "tax-and-spender" so close to election day.
Making his pitch for the impact fee, Assistant County Administrator Dan Johnson explained to the advisory committee that Pasco hasn't built a new park since 1994, when it exhausted money raised from a 1986 bond issue.
With another 51,000 people expected to be added to the county's existing 344,000 population by 2010, the need for parks is urgent, Johnson said.
"We are not trying to build a Cadillac park system," Johnson said. "We're not even trying to build a Chevrolet park system."
Under questioning from New Port Richey developer Alex Deeb, Johnson admitted that if parks were built today, the county doesn't have the money to staff them.
Representing the Pasco Builders Association, Deeb said he would support the impact fee if assured the operating money were forthcoming.
Dade City developer Tom Smith wasn't even sure if such a fee was necessary. Smith supported a school impact fee of $1,694-per-home earlier this year but said parks were less important than schools.
"This is something I might consider nice but not necessary," Smith said.
The advisory committee's recommendation, along with those of other citizens groups, will go to the commissioners before the impact fee ordinance comes up for a vote in November or December.