7pm update - added estimates of potential lost revenue to the School District.
2:20 pm - Updated with added thoughts in a PS section at the end of this document.
Tavares, FL - Apr. 5, 2011 - The Board of Commissioners (BCC) of the Lake County Government, after a one hour discussion, voted 5 to 0 against existing property owners and the School Board by more than doubling the length of time for a proposed moratorium on School impact fees. The approved time frame is from Jan. 1, 2011 (retroactive) to April 1, 2012, or 15 months.
The Board essentially voted for Builder welfare over homeowner and education interests.
School impact fees are around $9,324 per NEW residence, and the funds are intended for school construction due to increased population allowed by the addition of new homes. They are a major source of funding for the Schools to build new schools and to meet demands of population growth. HERE is the link to the list of all impact fees.
The value of existing and foreclosed homes was therefore just reduced by $9,000 or more because new homes can be sold for lower values to compete with the existing and foreclosed homes, which will reduce property values even more for the next year. Thus existing property owners with "upside down" mortagages may have them for for a longer period.
You should soon be able to go to THIS page on the BCC website and view the archived video of the meeting. Look for a link under the "Recorded Video" column for the April 5th meeting. The discussion on the impact fees was for tab 27, and started at around 10:10am and went to 11:06 am.
The School Board recently approved a SIX month moratorium at the request of the Board, and the issue went to the BCC for approval. Led by the former BCC Chairman, Welton Cadwell, and a long string of public input by contractors, the Board decided to approve a moratorium for 15 months, ignoring the conservative School Board decision for a six month moratorium. There was no discussion or estimates provided on lost revenues to the School District. (Updated Apr. 6 at 5:30 pm - According to School Board public information officer, his review of impact fee projections indicates about $4.2-million in expected impact fees for the 15 months moratorium period would be lost, vs an earlier figure we had of $1.5-million for 12 months, which means for 15 months it might be around $1.8-million. One source said that the upcoming impact fee study due in June might alter that estimate up or down).
Additionally, one source pointed out the School Board MUST comply with class room standards based upon TWO referendum votes, thus the County Board's moratorium is ignoring that responsibility.
There were no education representative proponents supporting the 6 month period, other than the School District's CFO, who was there to answer questions.
My take on this is:
- This decision basically subsidizes builders, and STEALS value from current home owners. The reason is that if a builder does NOT have to pay impact fees on a new property, they can reduce their house price by $10,000 or more which reduces the value of existing homes. It also reduces the ability of owners of foreclosed homes to sell them because the builders do not have to pay a fee that was paid for existing homes.
So, this decision was pro-builder, and against current property owners and School District Board wishes.
And, the Board ran right over the wishes of the Lake County School Board by over-riding the intended 6 month period. I was at the School Board meeting where the 6-month impact fee was discussed, and the School Board was waiting for an in process study to evaluate updated impact fee recommendations in June. Thus the BCC members caved to builders and ignored the concerns of the School Board.
Easy for the BCC to do, since they are not responsible for meeting all the school space requirements that the School District must meet.
Earlier, i wrote an opinion on why I was not monitoring School Board issues much, because I felt they didn't have anyone strong enough to stand up to the continuous demands to reduce school funding. I believed the School District was not assertive enough in many areas, thus they would be eaten like the Eloi in HG Wells book Time Machine by more aggressive Morlocks. This is an example.
If they do NOT want to get eaten by the Morlocks like the Eloi in HG Wells Time Machine book, the School Board needs to formulate an aggressive, fact based presentation to the BCC to demand the moratorium ordnance be revised to a six month limit like originally discussed.
Otherwise, the Builders ate their lunch, and the Eloi got eaten.
PS: Update: After this was published, I received charges I was a liberal because the School Impact fees were "too high". However, just like the BCC Transporatation fees, I haven't seen a REALLY good example defining the accuracy or objectivity of any impact fees from either the Schools or the BCC. There are two components: 1) The method used to calculate added school space "needed" and 2) The method used to PRICE the cost of adding the additional school space. The Builder lobby could be right and all the numbers are bad, or they could be wrong. So, until I see some accurate, objective numbers, you have to believe that any moratorium on School District impact feed will create a budget hole that is harder to climb out of. I would suggest a citizen panel to do that, but the BCC ignored and hasn't even discussed the impact fee report created by their own citizen committee last year.
Additionally, the Board keeps saying the approval is to improve the economy (by making it easier for builders to compete with lower foreclosure home prices and build homes at lower prices and more profits ), but they ignore the issue of existing property values.
What is interesting is the Builder supporters are resorting to Democrat techniques of name calling. Both I and Marilyn Bainter have been called names, rather than the supporters supplying actual, verifiable facts to support a position on the issue.
If you want to see the Builder view of this issue, CLICK HERE.
And...
HERE is the official Lake County Board press release on this approval.
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