Hillsborough County, Florida

Multi-Facility Impact Fee Study
   

In 2004, Hillsborough County selected Duncan Associates to analyze the “potential for increasing impact fee revenues for its school, road, park and fire impact fees. The work program included a comprehensive analysis of the County’s impact fee program, including an evaluation of existing fee formulas; an updating of various input factors to reflect current costs; and a consideration of alternative methodologies that would “more accurately assess the true impact of new growth.” The final study indicated that an updating of only formula cost factors could increase annual

revenues from $21.3 to $32.5 million, and that a total restructuring of all five fees could potentially bring in up to three times that amount, or about $92.5 million. It also suggested several adjustments to the County’s overall impact fee system. In summary, these included combining roads and rights-of-way into one fee; charging road, ROW and park fees at full net cost; reducing the number of road and ROW fee geographical zones from ten to four; enacting a comprehensive school impact fee by including the cost of the school facilities to the calculation of the fee; and assessing park and school impact fees based on the square footage of the dwelling unit, rather than the number of bedrooms and type.