In addition to road impact fees, the Board of County Commissioners are considering the reinstatement of school impact fees. They did not pass a motion to reinstate them at their January 13 meeting but scheduled a meeting in March to look at re-instituting both road and school impact fees with two workshops to be held before hand. Commissioner Dukes is working with staff to create a loan option for both road and school impact fees for new home buyers so that the cost of impact fees do not affect appraisals.
The following is information presented by staff as well as school board representatives at the January 13th meeting.
Ron Pianta explained how schools can spend the money gained from impact fees saying that fees can be used to accomodate growth which would include capital improvements, building, transportation and ancillary facility costs which could include furniture, technology or debt payment caused by growth. Bonded improvements with impact fees could be used to pay the debt.
Commissioner Dukes felt that it was important to know whether or not the impact fees would be going towards debt service because there was confusion from the consultant at a previous meeting whether the impact fees were needed for new growth or debt service. It was pointed out that according to what was presented to commissioners, the district was losing students.
Dr. Laurie Romano Superintendent of Schools, stated that they use general operating dollars to fund debt service so the small amount from impact fees would make a difference almost immediately. Currently they employ 3000 and serve 22k students in the county and is considered a middle sized district. The district has lost 8 million dollars in funding since 2008. The last year impact fees were assessed they generated over 1.3 million dollars. Their student head count is up by 350 students. Last year, they received sparsity funding from the state of 1.9 million dollars or about $100/student. This year they are not eligible for sparsity funding as they are 30 students above stipulations.
She agreed with Commissioner Rowden that research has shown new home buyers weigh the quality of an area’s educational system more heavily than the cost of impact fees. She stated, “If you want to bring people into the county, education is the way to do that.”
Dr. Romano expressed disappointment at the rejection of the penny sales tax referendum back in November 2014. The school board had already budgeted that money since it was a renewal of the half cent sales tax. She viewed it as a loss of 8.6 million/year for the district.
School Board Chief Financial Officer explained that the School District has been downgraded from an A to A- rating by S&P due to the declining revenues. The downgrade will impact their cost of debt. The school board total deficit is $23 million and is projected to be $27 million next year if there are no changes. Dr. Romano said that at some point they will have to make cuts to personnel or close schools to decrease their debt. They are looking at rezoning with the county since several schools are under utilized and others are overcrowded.
Commissioner Rowden said it was important for us today to make a stand to support our school system, the largest employer in our county and made a motion to implement the $4266 to start Jan 20th. The motion died for lack of second.