Office of the Nassau County Manager
Press Release
July 8, 2020
Nassau County, Florida, July 8, 2020 – Impact Fees are a one-time fee collected when building permits are issued to fund future construction and improvements needed to accommodate growth. `
There are currently five types of impact fees collected by the County: educational impact fees, recreation impact fees, administrative impact fees, fire impact fees, and law enforcement impact fees. The County also collects mobility fees to fund road improvements. While not an impact fee, it is still a fee charged during the permitting process to ensure that the builder bears the costs for improvements necessary to accommodate extra vehicles or “trips” to a home or business.
In August 2018, the Board hired a consultant to review recreation impact fees to ensure that adequate funds are being collected for construction of parks and recreational facilities to meet the demands created by residential development. The study is still underway and is expected to be completed in the fall of 2020.
In February 2019, the Board directed staff to move forward with ordering a study to review Fire Rescue Impact Fees, Sheriff Impact Fees and Administrative Impact Fees. This is being done to ensure amounts being collected are sufficient in comparison to counties of similar size and to ensure that any needed improvements are paid for by the individual pulling the permit rather than burdening taxpayers by using ad valorem revenues.
Sheriff Impact Fees are Fire Impact Fees are based on the knowledge that public safety needs are directly proportional to the presence of people. With growth comes the need for new fire stations, larger jails, and equipment for public safety personnel. Administrative Impact Fees are used for building, renovating, and/or expanding public buildings such as courthouses, maintenance facilities, and administrative offices. Sometimes a project will require use of multiple impact fee funds for a project. For example, the Sheriff’s Administrative Building was partially paid for with a combination of Law Enforcement and Administrative Impact Fees.
The County secured Tischler Bise, a fiscal and planning consulting firm, to perform an update/calibration of the County’s Fiscal Impact Model used to assess the fiscal impact of proposed development projects and rezonings in the County. The preliminary results were presented to the Board of County Commissioners at their meeting held on December 9, 2019.
Below is a chart reflecting the total impact fees currently being collected by Nassau County, as well as the maximum supportable fee for each development type:
The study also included projections for future facility and equipment needs such as fire stations, 911 call centers, sheriff vehicles, rescue vehicles, fire trucks, etc., based on a 10- year projected growth trend. Pursuant to these projections, it is anticipated that the County will need an additional 117,798 square feet in facilities at a cost of $28,308,912, and 64 new emergency apparatus (vehicles) at a combined cost of $5,762,521 to meet future needs. If the maximum supportable impact fees are adopted as recommended by Tischler Bise, it is anticipated that there will be enough impact fee revenues to cover approximately 67% of these growth-related costs.
Below is a chart showing the current and proposed fees to be considered by the Board:
The Board will hold a public hearing to consider these changes on Thursday, July 16, 2020 at 6:00 p.m. The meeting will be held in the Commission Chambers located at 96135 Nassau Place, Yulee, FL 32097. The meeting is open to the public. The County has implemented additional procedures to allow proper social distancing to protect individuals wishing to attend in person. The meeting can also be streamed live at www.nassaucountyfl.com/watch-meetings. Anyone wishing to participate remotely can submit comments to [email protected]. You can also call (904) 530-6009 and submit a verbal comment for the record. Individuals wishing to be called during the meeting can email or call as directed above and request to be called. Please provide your name, address and the topic you wish to speak about and you will be called when that item comes up for discussion.
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If you have any questions, please feel free to contact the County Manager’s Office at (904) 530-6010.
You want to raise impact fees? Seriously? Where are the impact fees to the residents for the damage to every car that drives down 200. What about the loss of revenue to the small local businesses because of the roadway fiasco? You should pay these fees out of your personal savings and checking account and the county sheriff seize and auction off your personal property to cover the rest. You all should be ashamed at how poorly you have performed your duties.
You must not be very know much about how things work. STATE ROAD 200 is a State Road, therefore, the County is not responsible for any damages to vehicles. File a claim with the Florida Department of Transportation. And what are you even talking about seizing property and auctioning it off. and loss of revenue to businesses because of roadways? Good grief, get a clue.
Wow, those are pretty low impact fees. I thought they would be much higher. We know that new development impact fees are never enough to cover the true cost of developments. I hate to see housing prices rise even higher, forcing our young people and poorer people out of the housing market, but new developments need to get closer to paying for themselves over the long run. A couple of solutions might be to mandate limits to profits that developers can make and to mandate a certain percentage of new developments be priced in the workforce housing range.
Wow, just wow…..some of these comments give me pause. Mandate limits to profits a developer can make? While at the same time, mandate a percentage of new housing to be affordable for working class folks?
Then, declare that ‘someone’ pay themselves impact fees out of their own personal account AND the Sheriff seize and auction off your property? I laugh to keep from crying. It’s a shame that some people are so misinformed.
“Impact Fees are a one-time fee collected when building permits are issued to fund future construction and improvements needed to accommodate growth.” First sentence of the article, but look at the comments……