Board gives approval to reduce impact fees

At least three out of five school board members support county officials reducing residential impact fees at the risk of the district losing more than $600,000.

However, all of them agree money for the impact fees should be paid up front by developers and the fee reduction be reviewed after one year.

During the Hernando County School Board workshop Tuesday, board members agreed to support Hernando County commissioners reducing residential impact fees to 2001 levels - almost half the amount homebuilders currently are charged.

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 alone - are then submitted to the district and can only be used for capital improvement projects, such as building new schools.

With board members Sandra Nicholson and Dianne Bonfield absent and no full county plan, Board Chairman John Sweeney said he was hesitant to offer direction to commissioners. However, Amber K. Wheeler, manager of growth planning and management for the school district, said county commissioners would likely vote on the matter during their Nov. 10 meeting.

Board discussion instead centered not on whether to reduce fees, but when impact fees would be collected. Sweeney said the current system where fees are paid for a building permit is approved would work best for the district.

"During budget time we're telling the community that the school district is broke, and we really do have limited resources if any," Sweeney said. "The only reason we're considering this is because it's very important to us to lend a hand if we can, but we have to be really careful on how far we go with this. A year seems the best we can do."

Board member James Yant agreed and added he supported reviewing the fee reduction after one year to ensure the district wouldn't be put in a bad situation.

"We're being told that economic conditions might not improve until 2010 or 2012 and that things could be worse than they are today," Yant said. "We're still about two years away before we see major improvements in economic conditions in this country."

Last year, the district collected roughly $1.3 million in impact fees with $1.4 million budgeted for this school year. So far $206,000 has been collected between July and September.

In other business, board members reviewed plans for potential roof renewals, repairs and other exterior renovations to Central High School.