As Manatee County’s development boom, leaders want to start billing millions more to builders to pay for issues caused by growth.
At a recent meeting, the commissioner considered a plan to raise regional development impact fees to the maximum allowed by state law. One-time fees collected from developers help pay for infrastructure such as new roads, water and sewer utilities, schools, parks, libraries and emergency services.
Manatee County’s past impact fee handling has attracted criticism from residents and officials who say developers aren’t paying an equitable distribution for issues caused by the rapid building.
Last year, the commissioner had the opportunity to revisit the fees. However, rather than seeking significantly higher fees, they chose to approve a moderate increase of 50% over four years. They also chose to base their rate increases set in 2015 rather than using updated numbers. Critics said the multi-million dollar impact fees would be recovered.
But after the November election brought policy shifts to the county commission, leaders proceeded with plans to significantly update fees and raise fees.
They signed with engineering company Benesh to complete a study showing Manatee County fulfilling the “extraordinary circumstances” necessary to do so under state law.
Residents have shown extensive support for the impact fee hike, but some local developers are not satisfied. They showed up at a recent land use conference to protest the county’s plans.
Now, the commissioner will have a final vote this week on the fee hike.
Manatee County moves to increase development fees
In 2021, state lawmakers took additional steps that local governments must take to raise impact fees by more than 50%. First, the county must order an investigation showing that “extraordinary circumstances” exist to justify increased fees.
The county will then need to hold two public workshops to discuss it. Manatee County Commissioners held these workshops on May 7th and May 8th. Finally, five of the seven board members must approve the rate increase.
While state law does not define what is considered “extraordinary circumstances,” local governments around Florida have successfully used language to raise prices.
Benesch’s leading associate Nilgun Kamp said good reasons for raising fees include rapid growth, increased infrastructure costs and unfinanced infrastructure needs. Local governments can also adjust outdated or “artificially low” rates through past policies, Kamp said.
Kamp said he is checking all of these boxes as Manatee County is experiencing one of the highest levels of population growth and development in the state.
In a presentation to the commissioners, Manatee ranks No. 12th in Florida’s 67 counties for expected growth rates, with 159,000 new residents expected to arrive by 2050.
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“All of this is, you’re a big county and you’re growing rapidly,” Kamp said. “You’re ranking… top 20% of all counties in terms of your growth level.”
If it increases, it could double the manatee impact fee
At current rates, Manatee County raises approximately $63 million per year in impact fee revenue. With the maximum fee, the county can more than double that number, Kamp said.
Benesch’s research project can update its fees by updating its projects that allow Manatee County to collect up to $119 million to $153 million.
For example, at current rates, developers pay an impact fee of around $14,000 for a 1,700 square foot home. At the proposed fee, that amount increases by 133% to about $33,000.
Additional funding will help expand public safety programs, law enforcement agencies, libraries, parks and transportation, the study said.
Impact fees must be spent in parts of the county that are collected in parts of the county and cannot be used to repair or maintain existing infrastructure. However, they can be used to expand existing infrastructure capacity, such as by adding lanes to the road.
Developers criticize the impact fee hike
Neal Communities developer Pat Neal has launched public comments on accusations that board hearings on increased impact fees have not been promoted much.
“I think there’s a legal controversy because this is very different from the decision made by the Board (last year),” Neil said.
Neal argued that the rising impact fees will increase home prices by thousands of dollars, and will negatively affect first-time home buyers. He said the county should consider other sources of money to upgrade its infrastructure.
“As I’ve said many times, there are many other sources of revenue in transportation. We feel you’re punishing the building industry,” Neil said. “We ask that you be aware of what you are doing.”
For example, Neal argued that the proposed impact fee would result in a price increase of $20,000 for buyers of Simplydwell Homes, a subsidiary of the Neal community with average home prices in the $300,000 range.
The developer said he was not opposed to impact fees, but asked the county to reconsider the fees.
“I want you to think about this more gently,” Neal said.
More than a dozen employees at Neal Communities and Simplydwell Homes also spoke during public comments to oppose the increase in impact fees.
Local land use attorney Ed Vogler, who recently spoke about the board’s move to limit the development of East Manatee County, opposed the increase in impact fees on behalf of the Suncoast Builders Association. The association advocates other development-friendly policies, including reducing wetland protection in Manatee County.
“The policy of increasing impact fees does nothing to improve the quality of life for current residents who live at the core of our community. This is an unbalanced approach,” says Vogler.
Vogler also argued that the move to raise impact fees could violate state law. This is the argument that developers have recently used to oppose other county policies aimed at restraining growth and protecting the environment.
Residents support higher rates for developers
Eight residents have been called to raise impact fees, citing concerns about tensions imposed by rapid growth on the county’s traffic, schools, utilities and safety.
“The market is already stagnant… because we sell to offering many of these so-called high quality homes,” Dalton Nelson said. “Infrastructure needs to catch up. We need to raise the impact fees now to slow things down enough so that we can deal with many of these backlog issues.”
“We all know that we need to raise the impact fees. We drive on roads that are not made for all traffic,” said Myakka City resident Heidi Minihkeim. “These developers have been riding for free for a long time. They need to stop.”
“There was astronomical growth here. I don’t think it’s a sustainable long term,” Matt Woods said.
Commissioners discuss impact fees
Several commissioners expressed concern that a rapid hike with impact rates could scare businesses from the construction of Manatee County, from daycare centers to manufacturing.
Commissioner Mike Larne said he would like to get more feedback from the Bradenton Regional Economic Development Corporation before moving forward with the increase.
“The overall proportion is astronomical for these impact fees,” Larne said.
“I don’t think that a company will move to Manatee County at a fee like this,” Commissioner Amanda Ballard said. “They look at our numbers and go to Hillsboro or Sarasota.”
Ballard pointed to research figures showing the cost of impact fees for building a 4,000-square-foot daycare facility would be around $100,000.
“How can I get exemptions or discounts for industries that require and want to attract counties?” Ballard asked.
County staff responded that there was a way to discount or adjust impact fees for projects deemed beneficial to the community. For example, state law allows for impact fee waiver for affordable housing projects.
Commissioner George Cruze argued that the board could later consider ways to lower impact fees for certain types of development.
“We had the ability to get and change these schedules,” Kruze said. “The problem is that we haven’t increased these since 2015. They were under-collected for 10 years.”
Kruse said developers’ discussions about increased impact fees that hurt housing affordability are dishonest.
“You’re not trying to build affordable prices. You’re trying to build with the highest possible profit margin. Don’t come to me and ask me to help subsidize your profit margin. This is the cost of the business,” Kruse said.
Other commissioners also supported the rate hike, claiming that the low-impact fees had the county undertaken debt to pay for infrastructure needs.
“This community is out of control because people have the trouble of living here and now,” Commissioner Robert McCann said.
“We were entrusted with this board to take care of the county’s businesses and make healthy business decisions like Neal,” Commissioner Jason Bearden said. “We’re not a business that loses money. Taxpayers are not a business that pays more and more taxes on the unsupported growth that’s happening in this county. People living in West Bradenton don’t have to pay on East County roads.”
“This is something we have to do,” Commissioner Carol Anne Feltz said. “The pendulum was swinging too long in one direction.”
“I support moving forward with this,” Commissioner Tar Siddiq said. “We are facing an extraordinary situation. We cannot continue to spend more and more debts on future generations.”
What happens next?
The committee is scheduled to vote for an impact fee increase at 5pm Thursday at the land use meeting at the committee committee at 1112 Manatee Avenue W. in Bradenton. The meetings can be viewed live on the county’s YouTube channel.
The new rates will take effect in 90 days if approved, according to the county.
