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Hernando Today

Impact of impact fees questioned

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By JEFF SCHMUCKER

The Tampa Tribune

Published: November 1, 2009

Hernando Today

BROOKSVILLE - The Hernando County School District could be at risk of losing more than $600,000 for the school year if a county plan to reduce impact fees is approved.

However, most school board members don't believe the impact would be that dire and are in support of reducing impact fees for residential construction projects.

In light of Hernando County Commissioners considering to reduce impact fees across the board to 2001 levels, Amber K. Wheeler, manager of growth planning and management for the school district, said doing so could put the district at a $636,682 loss for the school year and run a $703,159 deficit in the budget by the 2011-12 school year - if the plan is carried on longer than one year. In some cases, the scenario is worse depending on a delay in collection caused by a special assessment.

Currently, there is more than $5.3 million in the Impact Fee Fund Balance carried over from previous years, Wheeler said. Staying on the 2001 levels for longer than a year would significantly deplete those.
Impact fees are collected by the county before residential construction permits are approved. Money from the projects - which can run between $3,255 and $4,266 for the school district - are then submitted to the district and can only be used for capital improvement projects, such as building new schools.

With potential school construction projects being considered, Wheeler said board members would have to consider different revenue sources for the projects.

However, a majority of board members agree the impact fees will likely have little impact on the district as they prepare to discuss the issue at 2 p.m. Tuesday, Nov. 3, at the board office.

Board Chairman John Sweeney and board members James Yant, Sandra Nicholson and Pat Fagan agree fewer homes are being built in the county due to economic times and decreasing home sales.

Sweeney and Fagan also agreed that one reason to support reducing the fees is to help the construction industry, with Sweeney adding the district also does with school construction projects.

"It's really all connected and we're all in this together," Sweeney said. "When you have a healthy community, you have a healthy school system."
Fagan said he approves of the decrease as long as it's for one year. Afterward, he said he'd like a review of how the reduction impacted both the county and school district before determining whether to raise the fees.

Meanwhile, board member Dianne Bonfield said she is not in support of reducing the impact fees and said officials should keep them where they are, especially in this economy.

"I'm comfortable leaving them right where they are," Bonfield said. "The fees are more than fair considering the board could've opted to collect more, but didn't."

In other business, board members are expected to consider:

• Reviewing a draft of the district strategic plan.

• Potential roof renewals, repairs and other exterior renovations to Central High School.

• Making changes to school beverage guidelines concerning what beverages would be offered to students.

During the 7 p.m. board meeting, board members will consider:

• Approve the piggyback of Palm Beach County Schools contract for Relocatable Classrooms and Non Instructional Buildings awarded to Royal Concrete Concepts and issue a purchase order in the amount of $6.7 million for the Deltona Elementary School project.

• Approve the piggyback of Palm Beach County Schools contract for Relocatable Modular Classrooms and Non Instructional Buildings awarded to Royal Concrete Concepts and issue a purchase order in the amount of $6.4 million for the Suncoast Elementary project.

Reporter Jeff Schmucker can be reached at 352-544-5271 or jschmucker@hernandotoday.com.

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