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Home builders claim school impact fees no longer needed in Citrus County
CRYSTAL RIVER — It’s called concurrency and the concept is simple.
New homes bring more people. More people equal more traffic and more children in classrooms. Therefore, builders of new homes should help pay to widen roads or build schools.
For two decades, the state required developers to pay upfront to improve roads and schools. Two years ago, Gov. Rick Scott and the Legislature removed the concurrency rule, allowing county governments to decide whether to have concurrency or not.
Citrus County decided to drop concurrency for roads, but kept it for schools.
In April, the school board declined a request from the Citrus County Builders Association to change the interlocal agreement to drop school concurrency. School board members said they didn’t want to eliminate future growth from helping pay for more classrooms.
School district officials, however, may be forced to change that position.
Gaston Hall, a longtime builder and CCBA member, convinced county commissioners two weeks ago to start the process to eliminate school concurrency and impact fees. Commissioners agreed to approach the school board to update the interlocal agreement.
Hall said he has tried to reason with Citrus County School District officials about long-range planning and whether impact fees are needed in a growth slowdown when new schools are not necessary.
In an interview, Hall pointed to the decision to spend $750,000 in impact fees to buy 20 acres of property on County Road 486 for a future joint-use elementary school and YMCA facility.
The county is also using $210,000 of school impact fee dollars as part of the final section of County Road 486 widening project. Those funds will help pay for construction of the quarter-mile section where the new school and YMCA are planned.
When the district and county agreed on using impact fees for the school site, the district expected to build the new school within five years.
Now, with growth at a standstill, the school could be 20 years off.
Hall said impact fees should never have been used for that property.
“We totally disagree with the purchase of property for a school that might be built 20 to 25 years from now,” he said. “When you take impact fee dollars and buy property like that, you’re land speculating.”
Chuck Dixon, a former county planning director who heads the school district’s Department of Planning and Growth Management, said impact fees and concurrency play a vital role in ensuring the district can pay for new schools.
He said the county doesn’t simply hand over impact fees to the school district. The district must seek approval for impact-fee projects, and then is reimbursed after the district’s money is already spent.
Impact fees pay only a fraction of the total cost, and only for projects necessary for additional students. Central Ridge Elementary School, which opened in 2009, cost $22 million to build. Of that, $1.4 million, or 6 percent, of the total payment came from impact fees.
As for the Pine Ridge property, Dixon said the county and district combined to plan for a project that can be built before area schools become overcrowded.
“It’s a bargain compared to when we have to do these things after the fact,” Dixon said. “It’s not a bad deal.”
Contact Chronicle reporter Mike Wright at 563-3228 or mwright@chronicleonline.com.
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Back To Days Of Yore
Hey- here's an idea folks- why don't we build a school out of palm fronds on the banks of the Homosassa River like we did 100 years ago? The land would be free, the kids could either swim or rent access from a boat, they could use the bathroom in the river, and the teacher can receive $2 a day for their services. I mean hey- if we're going to follow the fiscal structures of 100 years ago why not go all the way?
Sorry folks, but the world runs on money. To put is simple, we can pay a little now, or a hell of a lot later. And when the callous retirees pass away and the cut-throat builders have moved out of here what are we left with? Paying for land at an exorbitant price. Heaven forbid we should make an investment in our future when the price is right. But, as we all know, in this state the price is never right unless it costs $0.0. And please don't reply by throwing out stats and figures. If we've learned anything by listening to both sides of our disgusting two party system- you can spin and distort numbers any way you want.
No New Schools - A Follow Up
There may be a few readers and local government officials who remember my opposition to this development plan when it was put forth before the Board of Education and the Citrus County Commissioners. I remember sitting through various advisory Board Meetings where in opposition, I presented the school district's own demographic data indicating there was no foreseeable need for a new school and Citrus Counties own demographic data indicating the current glut of single family housing within the County. However, after a few Board meetings I quickly surmised this whole proposal was a done deal since it became obvious our elected officials were politically caught up in attempting to placate private financial interests while those relying on firm demographic and financial data would be dismissed for not "seizing an opportunity." It's quite refreshing to now bear witness to the political and financial fallout created by passing an onerous development agreement. Thus, my closing comment/question to members of our Board of Education and Citrus County Commissioners is first, "I told you so" when I cautioned against approving a development agreement and expending taxpayer funds not supported by sound demographic and financial data and second, what is your plan for getting the taxpayer's money back?