In Your Corner

There is a major decision approaching the Martin County Commission on Impact Fees. The State Legislature is considering banning them for three years while our County is pondering how much to raise them. For those not familiar with Impact Fees, the concept is simple. The County has to provide services such as water, sewer, roads and schools concurrent with new homes and businesses to maintain appropriate levels of service. These fees, which are passed on to buyers and businesses, can amount to a significant cost for a project. If excessive, they have a very negative effect on new business and jobs, and add considerably to the cost of a new home. If insufficient, current residents end up paying for the infrastructure required by new residents and business. To maintain this delicate balance, Impact Fees in Martin County are recalculated approximately every two years. To be legal Florida Court decisions require these fees be based on the current cost of providing NEW capacity and/or UPGRADING existing infrastructure. An Impact Fee Review Committee (IFRC) of volunteers is appointed by the Commission to review and recommend appropriate up-dates to these fees.

A consultant is hired to quantify the fee necessary for each type of residence or businesses built, and perform the actual calculations that determine the amount of a given fee. He looks at each type of activity that a residence/facility causes to occur such as road miles driven per person, average number of children per home, number of books and libraries and coverage by law enforcement and fire/rescue. These assumptions are based on historical data, the square foot size of the structure, projected use and the County Commissions’ established “levels of service”. A local dollar amount is established for each of these activities based on estimated use. For example, a commercial activity such as a new manufacturing facility will have an impact on roads, utilities and emergency services, but not schools. Each new home built will cause an average impact on schools and public facilities such as libraries and parks as well as public safety services. The IFRC’s responsibility is to review these assumptions and computations for accuracy, advise the County Commission as to the appropriateness of their directed levels of service and make recommendations as to the implementation of the new fees. Obviously this is a complicated procedure and requires applying a lot of judgment to the calculation process, and using political persuasion on the Commission. School Impact Fees are calculated separately on a different time schedule and have the same review process except that the School Board also approves them.

To put these Impact Fees in perspective: There are 67 counties in Florida but only 42 collect Impact Fees. For County infrastructure fees (not including schools) these range from less than $1,300 on a 2,000 sq ft single-family home in Wakulla, Seminole and Levy counties to the current highest, over $15,000 in Collier. Th e median impact fee is just under $4,000. Martin County is currently 12 th highest at about $6,800 and would climb to 4 th if the current draft update is approved.

There are seven categories of Impact Fees (including schools) in Martin County, but most other counties do not charge for all of these categories. Below are the current fee, proposed fee, and percentage change for the average new single-family home if the consultant’s proposed fee schedule is adopted.

Category Current Fee Proposed Fee % Change

Roads $2,793 $4,209 50.7%

Public Buildings $436 $685 57.2%

Sheriff $445 $436 -1.9%

Emergency Services $346 $526 52.1%

Parks $2,345 $2,969 26.6%

Library $456 $520 14.1%

Total County Fees $6,820 $9,345 +37.0% total

Schools $5,567 * $5,567 *due update late 2009

Total Impact Fees: $12,387 $14,912 +20.7%

Your Taxpayers’ Association has a position on the Impact Fee Review Committee and, despite the “advisory only” status of the IFRC, we will certainly make sure that our members and other taxpayers’ concerns are in the forefront of all discussions.

We encourage your comments, criticisms, ideas, or any questions about how your taxes work; call or fax 772-288-0474 or write to us at PO Box 741, Stuart, FL 34995 or e-mail us at admin@mctaxpayers.org or visit our WEB site, mctaxpayers.org.