OK, 68 posts so far, the majority of which seems to express the wish that "the developer" gets stuck with the impact fees. Reality check-----that will never happen. What happens is the price of the new homes go up by that amount. Period. And since even a full 2300/home is less than 1% of the sales price, it will not have a negative impact on sales.
New development requires new infrastructure, the debate is over who benefits and who pays. You might argue that "the developer" benefits, but they are only the middlemen. Impact fees are generally going to be paid by the buyer of a new home or business, the property tax by all property owners.
Some infrastructure (sewer, residential roads, water supply) are primarily of benefit to the new homeowner. Some infrastructure (bridges, tunnels, MMPs) benefit primarily Villagers. And some (shopping plazas, new employment) benefit non-villagers as well). So how to divide the cost?
Taxes? History shows that Sumter County had a high millage rate 20 years ago and later that tax was reduced. Why? Broader tax base. With 20,000 new homes planned south of 44 at about 3,000 tax/year, that's 60 million dollars in increased revenue for the county----AND THAT IS THE PRIMARY BENEFIT TO ALL COUNTY RESIDENTS. The "25% tax increase" can be quite temporary with those numbers.
Impact fees? That puts the burden on a much smaller segment of the population (new homeowners, NOT "the developer"). But then they would be subsidizing this huge increase in the tax base for everyone else in the county. And it would be a disincentive to new business.
Combination of both? Probably a formula could be worked out
I think it is naive to think "the developer" has organized this "vast conspiracy" to artificially keep impact fees low, since they won't be paying them anyway.
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