Currently road impact fees are suspended in order to encourage development of homes and businesses in Hernando County. On Tuesday January 13, County Commissioners considered the reinstatement of road impact fees of $2537 for a single family home, which are separate from impact fees that are also currently suspended for schools.
Ron Pianta explained that currently the impact fees for a single family home total $1312.00 that includes a fire fee, ems fee, library fee, a fee for public buildings, law, jail and parks fee which were made effective in 2013. The Roads Impact Fee would be an additional $2537.00 for a single family home. If the ordinance is adopted, then total impact fees with the reinstatement of the previous school impact fee would be at $8115.00 for a single family home. Pianta compared these numbers to those during the Real Estate Boom, the roads impact fee was at $3627.00. The total impact fees were $9238.00 during 2005 and 2006. So basically impact fees for a single family home would jump to about $1200 less than it was during the height of growth. The question is, is this justifiable for the level of growth and development we currently are seeing.
Many citizens came in support of the reinstatement of impact fees. One gentleman who moved here in 1994 said that it was a disgrace that County Line Rd. has never been widened even though it has been on the plan to be a four lane road since then. Several complained about the big box stores like Hobby Lobby moving into the area and not having to pay for the impact they have on the community particularly increased traffic. One woman pointed out that local builders do not see benefits from these national retailers since they usually bring their own builders with them. Some said that Hernando County needs the infrastructure improvement that would come from impact fees. However, it was clarified during the meeting that road impact fees are only allowed to be utilized for transportation needs related to new growth.
Chuck Morton President of Hernando County Association of Realtors appreciates that they suspended impact fees during the economic downturn and says that the HC Association of Realtors would support an incremental implementation of impact fees. He says that their professional opinion is that the market is not ready for full implementation of impact fees since they are just now seeing a recovery.
President of the Builder’s Association and owner of Artistic Homes, recommended to the Commissioners to not reinstate impact fees at this point. He said that currently we are not seeing enough growth to necessitate the impact fee.
Both builders and realtors mentioned that right now adequate appraisals for the sale of new homes are still very difficult to obtain. Co-owners of Dream Custom Homes Matt and Barry Burch, said that adding another 10k to 11k dollars to the cost of the home would not make it any easier. Basically, the house will have to appraise 10k to 11k dollars more than you built it for.
Commissioner Dukes has been working with staff to arrange a 10 year impact fee loan assigned to the property for new home buyers so that it would transfer if the home is sold within the loan time period. This would eliminate the problem builders and home buyers face with appraisals. The impact fee would not be financed through the mortgage so it would not increase the amount the home has to appraise for. The downside would be that because it’s not part of your mortgage, you’ll have to pay larger amounts in a shorter period of time. It would also add uncertainty for home buyers who would have to check to see if they would need to pay the balance of impact fees on a prospective home.
Commissioner Holcomb stated that he realizes the delicate situation between the need to attract buyers and maintain and improve infrastructure, but believes it would be disadvantageous for us to reinstate impact fees if the county to our north suspends them.
On the same day Hernando Commissioners considered reinstating their fees, Citrus Commissioners voted for a two year suspension.
Chairman Nicholson agreed with Commissioner Holcomb’s statements and supports Commissioner Duke’s proposal for an impact fee loan. He emphasized that impact fees for roads
by law have to be used for new growth, not repaving or repairing existing roads. The growth right now in Hernando County is at 1.3%. He does not think that now is that right time to raise impact fees.
Commissioner Dukes motioned to postpone the decision on reinstatement of road impact fees for 60 days with two workshops in between to aid in the decision making process.
Commissioner Rowden insisted that we should have impact fees in place and are just postponing the inevitable. She voted against delaying the decision.
The final vote was 4-1 to accept the postponement.