6/8/1988 - Laserfiche WebLink

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don't build. The Chairman believed Treasure Coast Builders supports impact fees; the one thing that comes up is making it equitable. Vice Mayor Winchester did not question the need for the money; his only comment was that politically and philosophically we need to find a way to make what we are doing a little more palatable to those who pay the bill. Commissioner Bird requested that Attorney Vitunac explain about impact fees and how they work as far as the county and the municipalities are concerned, where the funds are collected, where they are spent, etc. Attorney Vitunac stated that new people coming in will pay a share based on a study, and he felt it would help if Director Davis gave a synopsis of his report. City Manager Little advised that the City staff has had a chance to review Jim's report, and when it is ready for formal action, they are ready to take a position. Commissioner Bird asked if the municipalities can opt in or out, and Attorney Vitunac confirmed that it is optional. Chairman Scurlock noted that basically you develop a capital improvement program where you can pay for the new improvements that will be caused by new growth, and then you have a variety of options. You can zone it as we did with traffic and collect funds in certain zones, and fees could be different in each zone or you could have an overall impact fee and not zone it. There are a variety of approaches. Attorney Vitunac emphasized that the main thing about impact fees is that they bring the new person up to the standard that is already there; they are not a source of money to improve the whole program for the future; that has to come out of tax money or user fees. One of our towns dropped out of our road fee program because they said they wanted to do their own impact fees and pave all their roads, but the problem is that their standard is dirt roads and they can't do that with impact fees. They 7 BOOK 73 FACE 07