Manatee County is seeking public input for a new set of proposed impact fees, that properly reflect current costs of construction. A great deal of money has been permanently lost for new infrastructure due to inaction by County Commissioners to regularly update our impact fee ordinance. In order to adequately fund new growth, the County needs to charge the proper amount of impact fees or this burden falls to the existing residents. The public comment period ends on July 19. We encourage you to review the information below, then Submit a comment regarding the Manatee County Impact Fee Update Study.
Local governments can adopt an impact fee ordinance to off-set the cost of new infrastructure (water, sewer, roadways, law enforcement, fire, public safety, libraries, parks, schools, etc.) needed to support growth. In Manatee County, that equates to about 10,000 new residents each year! When a jurisdiction adopts impact fees, an analysis is conducted to establish that the new fee has a “rational-nexus”, a legal principle that demonstrates that the development created the need for infrastructure, and the fee assessed captures the cost of providing that infrastructure, which strictly benefits the development. Impact fees are normally collected with the building permit.
In addition to the rational nexus test, developers can not be charged twice for the same service and can not be charged for existing deficiencies, paying only for the proportionate share of the cost of providing additional infrastructure. There are limits on the amount and frequency of fee increases. Impact fees cannot be more than 100% of the costs of new infrastructure at the time of setting the fees.
The last time Impact Fees were evaluated was 2015 and implemented in 2016.
At that time, 90% of the total cost of infrastructure to support new construction was charged. Impact fees have been discussed several times by the Board of County Commissioners, but they have remained unchanged since the 90% of 2015 costs were applied to determine impact fees. Those new infrastructure construction cost shortfalls from 2015 to 2023 have been borne by existing Manatee County taxpayers.
Citizens are encouraged to review the information provided by the county and offer feedback. Manatee County public comment period is from June 19 through July 19. After the public comment period, a change in the impact fees will be discussed by both the Planning Commission and Board of County Commissioners.
Additional Information
- County Information on Impact Fees
- The Florida Impact Fee Act
- For questions you can email nicole.knapp@mymanatee.org or call (941) 748-4501, ext. 7824.
Recommendation
- To be fair to existing homeowners and renters, impact fees should be 100% of what the growth/new construction costs are for increased infrastructure. If it is not, the costs fall back on existing homeowners or there is inadequate roads, school, emergency facilities, etc.
- Impact fees should be raised to the maximum allowable by state law. State law does not allow them to be over 100%.
- Impact fees should continue to be raised by the maximum amount and frequency allowed by state law until they reach 100%.