Tavares, FL Dec. 7, 2014
The Lake County Board of Commissioners approved an increase in the Lake County School Impact Fees, raising it from an average $2500 per NEWLY constructed home to $7500. The fee is paid by the homebuilder at time of construction completion.
HERE is the Orlando Sentinel story on the fee increase.
Impact Fees are based upon the amount needed to generate new student stations (i.e. schools and classrooms) due to growth caused by new residents buying the new homes. Existing homes are not taxed, only new ones. The current rate is based upon a consultant's study required by Florida State that defines the average funds needed per home, and the current rate is about $10,200.
However, the school district has no received full funding for years, due to waivers by the School Board and the County Board.
Thus the approved increase will still not fully fund the added classroom space and facilities needed due to population growth.
Here is the comment I posted on the newspaper Facebook page about the impact fee increase:
" Well, this really means that the Schools need about $10,200 for every new house to build schools for the new kids from the population growth. But the County Board WAIVED that major source of income for the school district and dropped it to ZERO. Then last year, they allowed it to move up to about 25% of the above number.
References:
HERE is an earlier Oct. 21, 2014 Daily Commercial article on a Lake County Committee to raise the fees to 50% of the full funding estimated need. As mentioned above, the Committee (CFAC) recommendation was increased by the Lake County Board to 75% of the estimated full funding estimate. The committee, in my view, was stacked against the schools, with members representing homebuilders who resisted ANY impact fees.
The Lake County, FL Daily Sentinel has good coverage on Lake County Impact Fees, and HERE is a link to a page showing many of their articles based on a key word search "impact fees".
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