Subject:
Title
Request Approval to Advertise a Request for Proposal for Fire/Rescue Facilities and Emergency Medical Services Facilities Impact Fee Update Study
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Fiscal Impact:
The estimated cost of the Fire/Rescue Facilities and Emergency Medical Services Facilities Impact Fee Update Study (Impact Fee Study) is $190,000. It is estimated that if all Impact Fees associated with Fire/Rescue Facilities and Emergency Medical Services Impact Fees were raised by fifty percent and phased in pursuant to Florida Statutes, an additional $329,521 in impact fee revenue would be collected over a four (4) year period, FY 2025-26 through FY 2028-29. This estimated impact fee revenue is net of approved Development Orders.
Dept/Office:
Central Services/Planning and Development
Requested Action:
Recommendation
It is requested that the Board of County Commissioners (the Board) provide the following:
1. Approval to advertise a Request for Proposal for Fire/Rescue Facilities and Emergency Medical Services Facilities Impact Fee Update Study.
2. Appoint the following members to a Selection and Negotiation Committee: Jill Hayes, County Budget Director; Billy Prasad, Interim Director of the Planning and Development Department; and Deputy Fire Chief Klein, Fire Rescue Department.
3. Approval for the Selection and Negotiate Committee to negotiate terms of the professional services contract and bring the negotiated contract back to the Board for their consideration.
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Summary Explanation and Background:
The County adopted the current Fire Rescue and Emergency Medical Services impact fee rates on October 30, 2001, via Ordinance 2001-68. However, due to the economic downturn in 2009, the County implemented a moratorium on all impact fees imposed by the County. In 2014, the County selected a consultant to conduct an Impact Fee Update Study (the Study) for all the County’s impact fees imposed. In September 2016, the County accepted the Study, lifting the impact fee moratorium implemented in 2009 and retaining the then-current fee schedule adopted on October 30, 2001.
Florida law recognizes that impact fees are an important source of revenue for a County to use in funding infrastructure necessitated by new growth. However, the Florida Impact Fee Act (Section 163.31801, Florida Statutes) mandates certain procedures and limitations for increasing impact fees. These include the following provisions:
1. The impact fee is to be calculated based on a study using the most recent and localized data available within four years of the current impact fee update.
a. Because the County’s most recent data is older than four years, a new study is required before updating the fee schedule.
2. If the County intends to increase the impact fees, the new study must be adopted by the Board within twelve months of the initiation of the impact fee study.
3. To justify an increase, the study must reflect a rational nexus between the construction generating the impact and qualifying expenditures.
4. Impact fees generally cannot be increased by more than 50% every four years. An increase of more than 50% requires a finding of extraordinary circumstances and approval by at least a two-thirds vote of the Board.
On January 28, 2025, the Board directed staff to prepare a Request for Proposal (RFP) to conduct an impact fee study for Fire/ Rescue Facilities and Emergency Medical Services Facilities impact fees. Staff has drafted such an RFP, and it now seeks approval to advertise the RFP, appoint a Selection and Negotiation Committee, and negotiate a contract for the Board's consideration.
Clerk to the Board Instructions: