Our View: Keep eliminating fees

Sarasota City Commissioner Shannon Snyder started a crusade recently to get the city’s impact fees eliminated or suspended. It did not take much to get his fellow city commissioners to agree.

The move is common sense, particularly to a City Commission with fresh voices and enthusiasm and little stomach for the anti-prosperity, tax-and-regulate-to-death style of the previous commissions.

The city levies 11 impact fees, which in itself is an eyebrow-raiser, considering Sarasota has experienced almost no population growth in 30 years. The fees range from the common road, library and park impact fees to justice impact fees and general government impact fees. Almost every one of those raises questions.

Impact fees are taxes on new construction. The theory is that if government assesses an extra tax on new houses and commercial construction, then growth will pay for itself. More people require more roads and more library books, so the impact fees cover the growth.

That’s the theory.

An in-depth study of Collier County growth, looking at who pays and who uses government services in connection with growth, actually found that growth pays for far more than just itself — without any impact fees. That suggests impact fees may be just another way to gin up money for local government.

But Sarasota’s case is more unique than most in Florida. Its population has increased about 6.5% in 30 years, meaning that new growth’s impact was practically nil. Yet it is levying 11 impact fees.

Snyder put the numbers together and questioned why the city’s stance was so anti-development and why most of the ordinances were set up so that the city collected the impact fees, sent them to the county and then requested portions of them back for specific projects.

“We bought into these fees to satisfy the county, but it hurt us,” he said.

That is exactly what the city is attempting to undo now. The City Commission is examining the list methodically. It has suspended the sewer and water fees for 10 years, but kept the re-use fee because it is about what a private plumber would charge. It is working on parks now and then libraries and then the rest. The School Board suspended its impact fees for two years, which also makes sense in that student growth has been flat.

Snyder understands the underlying problem that results in the nonsensical fees. “We just need a whole different attitude. Why aren’t we making ourselves more financially competitive?” he asks. “Construction and development is demonized as negative. It should be neutral.”

We’d go the rest of the way. It should be seen as the positive that it is for the broadest quality of life in the community.

Click here to view a graphic of Sarasota's impact fees.