County Commission Seeks More Impact Fee Data

Impact fees – imposed on new developments to pay for public services – can be a complicated issue for local governments looking to balance increased demand on public infrastructure while encouraging sustainable development. St. Johns County commissioners recently reviewed a report on those fees and left with as many questions as answers on the subject. The county must take action on impact fees by June of this year.

The report, prepared by Benesch, a Tampa consulting firm, outlined the state of impact fees currently and the future needs of the county to meet its rapid growth.

“When we look at all 67 counties (in Florida), St. Johns County ranks second in terms of projected growth through 2050,” said Nilgun Kamp, principal associate with Benesch, adding that impact fees are most needed when there are high growth levels.

Kamp began her presentation of the impact fee study with a review of the technical details of the calculations used and the limits local governments have in raising those fees, specifically that communities can only raise fees by 50% once every four years unless there are “extraordinary” circumstances. She added there are several levels in the impact fee study, including the current infrastructure inventory, levels of service, a cost component, a credit component and a demand component all used to calculate the fee schedule.

While the 230-page report was detailed, Commission Chair Krista Joseph said the numbers used to calculate a new fee schedule did not match what commissioners received from county staff.

“Our staff gave us these numbers and they all should be going up and they’re not going up,” she said. “Our infrastructure is collapsing. We cannot go forward with getting an impact fee increase.”

Joseph said she also had concerns about the data used to make the calculations.

“I’m just really concerned that this is not accurate,” she said.

Kamp said the study uses “the best available data” and the impact fee numbers must be based on some data.

“It’s not perfect, but it’s the only one that has this much level of data,” she said.

Commissioner Ann Taylor also expressed concerns about the report as well as the cost of the study – a total of $420,000 with the impact fee component at a little over $200,000.

“That is a lot of money to spend on information that isn’t accurate or recent,” she said. “That’s a lot of money for our county to spend. I don’t feel good about that.”

Kamp said the data in the study is the most recent and most accurate available.

“We have done 500 studies and we’ve never been challenged,” she said.

For his part, Commissioner Christian Whitehurst said he trusts the numbers in the study.

“I do not have the same skepticism about your process,” he told Kamp.

In the end, commissioners agreed to get more updated data from Benesch, a process that is expected to take three to four months, which would allow the county to meet the June deadline.

“I think it’s important we have current data for our community,” Joseph said.