MANATEE COUNTY – A proposed increase in Manatee County’s impact fees, which could yield an additional $2 million a year for projects such as new or expanded roads and parks, may not be enacted as originally anticipated.
On Thursday, the Manatee County Planning Commission voted 5-1 – with Commissioner Timothy Rhoades absent – to recommend the county keep the fees levied on new home and other construction at 90 percent of what a consulting firm recommended in 2015.
The fees vary depending on the size and location of a structure.
For example, keeping the fees at 90 percent adds $11,765 to the cost of a new, 2,201-square-foot or larger home in the growing Parrish area. If those fees climb to 100 percent, that new homeowner will pay $13,072.
By contrast, the owner of a new, 1,000-square-foot or smaller home built in the southwest county – where extensive infrastructure already exists – now pays $2,451. If the fees are maximized, that total rises to $2,723.
The County Commission will have the final say. It can renew or raise the amounts before an updated impact fee ordinance takes effect April 18.
Among planning commissioners discussing their recommendation Thursday, Al Horrigan cast the dissenting vote.
Horrigan said he cannot justify keeping the fees level while the long-debated Tara Bridge has yet to be built. The bridge, which would span the Braden River and connect Tara Boulevard with Honore Avenue, could create an alternative north-south thoroughfare to often congested Interstate 75.
“There’s a bridge out there that needs to be built,” Horrigan said. He regarded a decision not to proceed with the fee increases to be “absolutely absurd.”
For years, the Tara Bridge has remained on the county’s to-do list but continues to lack funding.
Impact fees explained
Impact fees paid on new construction go toward libraries, parks, roads, bridges, law enforcement and other public safety projects required because of an expanding population.
The one-time charges, which must be paid to get a certificate of occupancy, go toward expenses such as public buildings and equipment but not ongoing operational costs, such as salaries and maintenance.
For example, Planning Commission Chairman William Conerly said, the county can pay for a new patrol car with impact fees but the additional deputy’s salary would have to come from other sources.
What is spent on impact fees “affects the operational budget,” Conerly noted.
Conceivably, the county could be sued and forced to make refunds if it collects but fails to spend impact fees.
Assistant County Attorney Bill Clague said impact fees are supposed to be spent within "a reasonable time" after collection, "though there's no magic year." He said officials have not told him the county has banked a lot of unspent impact fees that have not been allocated.
If he thought the county would be at "great legal risk" by collecting 100 percent of the fees, Clague said he would have advised so years ago.
Pros and cons
Slow-growth advocates consider the fees justified.
Bradenton resident Ed Goff, an adamant advocate of impact fees, stressed that new homes come with a demand for more infrastructure.
“Taxpayers, one way or another, must make up the difference if impact fees are not paid at the 100 percent rate,” Goff stressed.
He noted that the consulting firm that determined what impact fees can be justified in Manatee County, TischlerBise, has performed more than 900 such studies and never been legally challenged.
Jon Mast, chief executive officer for the Sarasota-Manatee Building Industry Association, presented a counterargument that another increase in impact fees will negatively affect housing affordability.
Citing findings of the National Association of Homebuilders, Mast said any $1,000 increase in home construction – for whatever reason, whether impact fees or building materials – prices out 100 potential homebuyers, eliminates 297 jobs and $28 million in wages and business income as well as $11 million in local, state and federal taxes.
Mast noted that any increase in county impact fees this spring would be on top of an increase in School Board impact fees that took effect last fall.
For a single-family home, School Board impact fees rose $1,271.
A tiered approach
In December 2015, the County Commission nearly doubled its impact fees – which it lowered during the recession to stimulate economic growth.
Most county commissioners agreed to assess 80 percent of the amounts that TischlerBise recommended as of April 18, 2016. They called for an increase to 90 percent in 2017 and for the fees to reach 100 percent this April.
Commissioners Betsy Benac and Vanessa Baugh, who are still on the board, cast dissenting votes.
During meetings last year, the commissioners said they want to re-examine the impact fees before the next increase could take effect.
Last August, at the request of the School Board, the commissioners voted 6-1 to increase a separate impact fee for new and expanded campuses and equipment such as school buses. Baugh again dissented. Benac did not feel county commissioners should override the decision of the separately elected School Board.
The county collects school impact fees then transfers that revenue to the school district.
As of Nov. 18, school impact fees rose based on updated calculations by TischlerBise. For a single-family home, for example, the school impact fee increased from $4,856 to $6,127.