by LISA MACNEIL
BROOKSVILLE, Fla. – At the regular Board of County Commissioners meeting on Tuesday, December 17, 2019, the board voted 4-1 to increase school district impact fees to roughly $3,176 per single family home, half of the number requested by the school board.
Commissioner Wayne Dukes was the dissenting vote.
The commission also voted unanimously to not mandate that impact fees be paid in full at the time a Certificate of Occupancy is issued.
Planning Director Ron Pianta presented the increased educational facilities impact fees rates taking effect on June 1, 2020. As was discussed in November of 2019, Tindale Oliver’s report recommended updated impact fee rates with respect to the school district. At that time, the Board of County Commissioners (BOCC) recommended that ordinance come back before the BOCC for consideration.
Pianta reminded the board that should they move forward and update the educational facilities impact fee rates, that they “explicitly accept the findings of the study prepared by Tindale Oliver and determine that the study was based on the most recent and localized data,” which would be the statutory requirement for impact fees.
The last time Tindale Oliver recommended fee rates was in 2013. Pianta again reminded the board that they did not need to adopt the rates at 100%, but of any percentage that the county could bear to charge. Currently, the educational facility impact fee is $2,133 for a single family home, which is 50% of the 2005 impact fee schedule. The school board has requested 100% of the current rate determined by Tindale Oliver, or a fee of $6,352 for a single family home.
