DAYTONA BEACH — With the need to continue providing services to Daytona Beach’s steadily climbing population, a consultant’s study is suggesting hiking Daytona’s impact fees for the first time since 2006.
Tens of millions of dollars worth of new fire stations and firetrucks, police department substations and vehicles, park projects, a proposed City Hall expansion, road projects, and water and wastewater plant upgrades could all be fueled by higher impact fees charged on residential and commercial construction.
If city commissioners adopt fees at the rates the study is proposing, that would mean the new owner of a home ranging from 2,000-3,000 square feet would be paying another $1,600 in impact fees. That’s a 45.4% increase above Daytona’s current impact fees.
“I don’t think we have much of an option,” said Mayor Derrick Henry. “We know we have great need.”
The new fees could be coming fast. Community workshops to explain the proposed increases are slated for 5 p.m. May 19 at the Schnebly Rec Center, and 5 p.m. May 20 at the Cherry Center.
City commissioners will then consider adopting an updated impact fee ordinance at their June 4 meeting, and take a final vote at their June 18 meeting.
If they decide to establish new impact fee rates, they would be required to wait 90 days to begin imposing the higher fees. The new impact fees could be in effect by mid-September.
That timeline would help the city beat a newly passed law that limits the amount a city can raise its impact fees if the rates haven’t been increased within the past five years. The new law will go into effect Oct. 1 if the governor signs it.
What is an impact fee?
Impact fees are one-time charges imposed to recover costs of new buildings, infrastructure and equipment needed to accommodate the demands of new growth. Impact fees don’t fund operations and maintenance costs.
Daytona Beach has five kinds of impact fees: Police, fire, parks and recreation, general government and mobility/transportation.
When all five of those fees are charged under Daytona’s existing rates, that can add up to $3,527 in impact fees for the owner of a new home spanning 2,000-2,999 square feet. With the fees proposed in the consultant’s study, that total would jump to $5,128.
That $5,128 is lower than the current impact fees for a single-family home of that size in Palm Coast and Volusia County, but higher than Ponce Inlet, Orange City, South Daytona, Flagler Beach, Deltona, DeLand, Port Orange, Ormond Beach, Edgewater and New Smyrna Beach.
The consultant study’s impact fees for a single-family home in Daytona Beach skyrockets the fire fee by 253.5%, and the mobility/transportation fee would jump by 146.3%. The police fee would be up by about 53%, parks and recreation would increase by 14%, and the general government fee would decline 4%.
There are different rates for different types of properties. Police impact fees, for example, currently range from $163 for every 1,000 square feet of churches and synagogues, to hospitals and retail establishments paying $721 per 1,000 square feet. The consultant study suggests lowering the church and synagogue fee to $78, but raising the retail fee to $865 and the hospital fee to $859.
City staff say there are extraordinary circumstances spurring the need for increases. They cite the recent and rapid population growth, rising costs, and the large amount of outward growth – rather than infill redevelopment – that’s causing a need for new service facilities.
You can reach Eileen at Eileen.Zaffiro@news-jrnl.com
This article originally appeared on The Daytona Beach News-Journal: Daytona Beach city commissioners are looking at increasing impact fees by mid-September
Reporting by Eileen Zaffiro-Kean, Daytona Beach News-Journal / The Daytona Beach News-Journal
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