On Monday, July 12, 2021, Chamber President Greg Blose spoke at the Flagler County Board of County Commission workshop on the concerns the business community and construction industry have about six separate impact fee increases the County is considering implementing. Flagler County has not updated its impact fees in many years, meaning they are no longer accurate and out-of-date. Not updating the fees also means the government is missing out on revenue it could use to offset new or planned capital expansion projects.
If ultimately approved, Flagler County Government would raise several million dollars in revenue via new Fire, EMS, Law Enforcement, Public Buildings, Library and Parks/Recreation impact fees. These fees are used to help offset the “impact” new construction has on the community. These fees also increase the cost of housing and constructing a building to house a business by several thousand dollars.
The Chamber’s calculations show the real-world impact:
- Buying a 2,000 sq/ft single-family house would incur approximately $6,500 in impact fee charges,
- Building a new “quality restaurant” would incur approximately $16,000 per every 1,000 square feet of space in impact fees (2000 sq/ft? $32k…and so on),
- The cost of building a “corporate headquarters” would incur approximately $5,800 per every 1,000 square feet of space in impact fees, and
- The cost of building a “medical office building” would incur approximately $7,500 per every 1,000 square feet of space in impact fees.
The full breakdown of how we arrived at those numbers is below.
In the meantime, the County isn’t the only government agency eyeing an impact fee increase, Flagler County Schools has already rolled out a $7,200 per single family unit impact fee for education facilities and the City of Palm Coast is said to have an impact fee increase planned for its residents/businesses, though the Chamber has not seen that study, yet.
The Chamber is involved in this conversation and will continue to provide updates.
- 2000 sq/ft SFR
- Fire- $729
- EMS- $61
- Law Enforcement- $212
- Public Buildings- $1,643
- Library- $312
- Parks/Rec- $1,138
- Transportation- $2,423
- Total- $6,518
- Quality Restaurant per 1000 sq ft
- Fire- $456
- EMS- $35
- Law Enforcement- $814
- Public Buildings- $6,049
- Library- $0
- Parks/Rec- $0
- Transportation- $8,844
- Total- $16,198 per 1000 sq ft
- Corporate HQ per 1000 sq ft
- Fire- $2709
- EMS- $210
- Law Enforcement- $137
- Public Buildings- $1,019
- Library- $0
- Parks/Rec- $0
- Transportation- $1,767
- Total- $5,842
- Medical Office per 1000 sq ft
- Fire- $564
- EMS- $44
- Law Enforcement- $170
- Public Buildings- $1,260
- Library- $0
- Parks/Rec- $0
- Transportation- $5,518
- Total- $7,556
Follow this link to view the full impact fee study report from Tindale-Oliver Consultants: https://www.flaglercounty.gov/home/showpublisheddocument/5775
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You missed on this really big.. a lot of key numbers and calculations.. I started screaming this last year, a little late to the table!
Michael: The Chamber has been aware of the impact fee study for several months and even notified businesses about it in a past edition of our e-newsletter. Considering the BOCC just had the 2nd workshop on the study (not vote to approve or deny), it’s most certainly NOT too late. This is actually the best time to make your voice heard (the next 2-3 weeks).
We went to the podium this week at the workshop, and we’ll do it again and again to continue the dialogue about how best to fund the future capacity needs of our county in a smart and fair manner. We want you by our side at the next meeting!
In some cases, the “level of service” we enjoy as residents is above and beyond surrounding counties, making impact fees potentially less necessary. In other areas, we are falling behind. The Chamber has meetings on the books with several county officials next week to continue the conversation. Stay tuned.