Tavares, FL - oct. 17, 2011 - Here is an Orlando Sentinel article on a recent Lake County School District meeting where the Board postponed a decision to forward a new, required consulting study on future School Impact Fees to the Lake County Board of Commissioners. However, I need to provide you with some more insight not in the report.
http://www.orlandosentinel.com/features/education/os-lk-impact-fee-stall-20111014-13,0,2128163.story
The Sentinel article, written by Erica Rodriguez, quotes School Board member Rosanne Brandenburg as wanting more information.
It also describes that the newly proposed rate for a single family home would go up from the current charge of $9324 (which has actually been waived for 15 months) to a new rate of $10,292.
The new study had been presented to the School Board at an earlier meeting. The consultant walked through the entire process, in detail, on how the data was accumulated and used to calculate recommended future impact fees at "100%" of the appropriate rates to provide funding for future capital spending due to population growth.
He clearly described the method used, and the fact that the new rates included a factor for bond financing fees, thus the $10,292 rate above, which includes a factor for bond financing interest, is significantly LESS than the prior recommended rate turned down by the County Board about 3 years ago,of $14,646. The article did not explain that fact, so it implied rates were going up, when they actually dropped significantly after including the interest rate provision.
The issue of Impact fees is conentious because local builders resent the fee, which adds to the base cost of new construction, and are working behind the scenes to reduce impact fees and shift the cost of new construction and infrastructure (roads, parks, fire facilities...) to ALL taxpayer through other taxes and fees. So, if you already own a home, and impact fee revenue is reduced, other fees on YOU will most likely be pushed through to fund the needed School construction costs.
In 2007, when the County Board rejected the School Impact fee interest rate component, a different consultant had been willing to break those fees out separately, but the new consultant cited professional standards and said they had to be included in the recommended fees he proposed.
Additionally, the study REDUCED commercial impact fees significantly, but that has not been discussed in the press.
As for Brandenburg's position, she was either sleeping or absent during that meeting, because the process was very well explained in detail. Or she was making a political statement to get her name in the press (which worked), rather than a statement from an informed Board member. The other Board members seemed to remember the explanations and were ready to "stop beating the issue to death" and forward the impact fee recommendations to the Lake County Board of Commissioners for final determinations. We will see what happens at the "future meeting" to re-discuss the issue and beat on it some more.
Conclusion:
- Brandeburg should pay attention at meetings and stop trying for one liner quotes for the press. It is kinda obvious. (Note: Brandenburg at one time was head of public relations for a hospital, and knows public relations methods for publicity. She has also talked about her MBA, which should indicate an ability to understand the consultant's study.)
- Readers need to realize the newly proposed impact fees for single family residents of $10,292 are significantly less than the 2007 recommended rate of $14,646 that included bond interest rate costs. Both these totals include a cost component for interest charges on bonds, and the 2007 figure was discounted almost $5000 by the County Board for the actual rate of $9,324, so we expect to see the newly recommended $10,292 rate to be discounted further. Rates for other types of construction are affected the same way.
- Commercial business impact fees will be reduced significantly for many business categories because rather than arbitrarily high rates for certain businesses like movie theaters, doctor offices and fast food restaurants, a much lower, less complex average rate will be used for most businesses.
vj
