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inevitable that a balance will accrue until a major capital project is undertaken; at which <br />time the balance will fall. This is substantially different from running a surplus and <br />running a deficit as implied in the letter. Simply put, fees are collected in small <br />increments, are accumulated for projects, and are encumbered/expended in batches to <br />fund projects. School project data were included in the Community Development <br />Director's letter. <br />• Appeal Reason 4: "There are actually less student stations today than in 2008. Impact <br />fees cannot be used to replace existing student stations, for repairs or for remodeling". <br />Response: With respect to permanent student stations, this reason correctly asserts that <br />"impact fees cannot be used to replace existing student stations" but incorrectly cites the <br />total number of student stations districtwide as evidence that fees were used for <br />replacement. In response to this issue, Tindale Oliver and Associates has stated that. <br />although the District has capacity available countywide for future growth, there are <br />certain schools that are above capacity. With the Class Size Reduction Amendment <br />requirements, School Districts are not able to exceed a certain number of students per <br />classroom. Given this, there may be needs to add classrooms or schools in certain sub- <br />areas even though there is additional capacity available at another location in the county. <br />• Appeal Reason 5: "Impact fees cannot be used for students that are ineligible to receive <br />those funds". <br />Response: Information from the School District confirms that school impact fees have <br />been used solely for construction of classroom, transportation, and ancillary facilities <br />relating to the County's public schools. As such, fees have been used only where <br />increases in students have required use of those funds to provide needed improvements, <br />including projects such as the Sebastian River High School freshman center addition and <br />the Fellsmere Elementary School expansion. (Attachment 3) <br />• Appeal Reason 6: "School impact fees are calculated on errant population figures and <br />not "the latest and best data" as required". <br />Response: As has been explained earlier to Impact Fee Consultants, the Impact Fee is <br />not based on staff's estimate of future population. Simply stated, it assumes demand is <br />generated by each unit of development, and a proportional fee is assessed on each unit to <br />cover that demand. In this way, staff cannot overestimate or underestimate population — <br />if there is no growth, no fees are collected (See the discussion below regarding <br />Consumption -Based Impact Fees). This "consumption based" method was used in the <br />2005 impact fee study and was explained and justified in the "methodology" section of <br />the 2014 impact fee study (Attachment 2). <br />2 <br />Attachment 4a <br />137 <br />