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Highlands Today

Impact Fees Could Be Paid Via Installment Plan

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By Jim  Konkoly | Highlands Today

Published: June 5, 2008

SEBRING – Impact fees are likely to rise by 5 percent effective New Year's Day.
But the people paying the impact fees on new homes and new commercial buildings might get a break on how they pay these fees, imposed to guarantee population growth won't outstrip dollars for infrastructure.

It's possible that a committee may recommend, and the Highlands County commissioners would adopt, an installment payment plan so that impact fee payments could be stretched out over several years.

On June 23, the Impact Fees Advisory Committee will vote to recommend to county commissioners changes in impact fees for 2009.

"The committee positively will have a recommendation by the end of that meeting," said Jack Richie, chairman of the 11-member committee, which has met more than a dozen times over the past three months.

The June 23 meeting will start at 3 p.m. in the engineer's training room of the county Annex Building, across Commerce Avenue from the Highlands County Government Center, where the county commission meets.

"At 5 p.m., if it is not already over, the meeting will end, abruptly, with a recommendation to the commissioners," Richie said.

According to Richie and several other members, the committee is likely to recommend that impact fees be adjusted up 5 percent for 2009 to keep pace with inflation. There are many legitimate sources, including data from the building industry, which document that inflation, or the cost of living, has risen 5 percent in the past year, he said.

The committee also could recommend an increase above the 5 percent for inflation. Richie said he wouldn't say that is impossible, but it does appear highly unlikely.

At the urging of county commissioners, especially Andy Jackson and Guy Maxcy, the committee will look at whether to recommend two changes in the way impact fees are paid.

Since they were initiated 18 months ago, the impact fees have to be paid when a building permit is taken out. That means a person building a new home or a commercial building has to pay thousands of dollars between 12 to 18 months before their home or business will be completed and they can move in.

Several Florida counties let the impact-fee payer pay the impact fees when the home or commercial building is finished and they have obtained an occupancy permit from the county.

Richie said some counties also give impact-fee payers an additional break – paying on the installment plan.

Research shows that some Florida counties let impact fees be paid over three years, starting with the first payment when the occupancy permit is issued. At least one county allows the impact fees to be paid on a 5-year installment plan.

"Five years is the most you can go, because that's the most that state law allows," Richie said.

The impact fee committee originally was scheduled to complete its recommendation for impact-fee changes for 2009 by late July to mid August. Recently, though, the committee has been told by the commissioners to finish its research and make its recommendations before the end of June.

Any changes in impact fees, including their amount, how they are calculated and how they are collected, must be passed by the commissioners by the end of September in order to take effect for 2009.

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