Lake County Fiscal Rangers

Upcoming Lake County Impact Fee Decisions Could Result in NEW Taxes for YOU!

Tavares, FL - Lake County, FL - Monday, Nov. 26, 2012

After taking a 3-week period to recover from the election results, we are back at it!

Your taxes could be raised next year if the Lake County Board decides to continue waiving local Impact Fees on new construction.  By waiving the impact fees, the Board is giving up tax revenues that will need to be provided by another source, like property taxes, sales taxes, etc.

The Lake County Board and the Lake County School District Board are in the process of deciding whether to renew suspension of impact fees for County transportation (roads) and Schools on new construction of homes and commercial buildings.

If you read about or see Lake County (not city) roads being overcrowded, or schools not being able to buy new buildings, computers or school buses, one reason is that impact fees for them were waived by the County Board the last 2-3 years.

The resulting County & School Board impact fee decisions in the next 1-2 months could re-enact transportation and school impact fees on new construction waived by the Lake County Board for the last 2 years.  The homebuilders and commercial construction firms don't like impact fees and want them gone.  But, if not reinstated, the waivers could be extended another year.  If they are waived, look for different taxes to be proposed or initiated to cover the missing revenue since all tax revenues are falling.   Thus, rather than homebuilders and owners of new buildings contributing up front via impact fees to the cost of new roads and school facilities needed for the new residents and businesses, ALL taxpayers could be taxed to subsidize the homebuilders and owners of the new construction.

In general, impact fee revenues are dedicated to NEW assets for separate uses like parks, roads, schools, fire services and libraries.   Their use is limited to capital spending, like building new roads or school buildings, or buying "capital" equipment like school buses, new or replacement computers and vehicles. Impact fees can't be used for salaries or normal operating or maintenance uses.   You can see the Lake County list of uses for impact fees, and how much is levied on new construction for each purpose HERE.  You can also read prior Impact Fee committee reports which were ignored by both Boards. 

Cities also have their own impact fees, which we are not discussing here.  This article is only about County level impact fees.  Thus a home built in Leesburg would be subject to any impact fees defined by the city, but not county.  And, a home built in Lake County unincorporated areas would be subject to the impact fees we are writing about here.

Impact fees are collected on all new construction, not on existing homes or buildings.  The theory is that since new construction results in the need for wider roads, new school student stations, school buses, etc. that the owner of the new construction should pay "impact" fees to help pay for new infrastructure (in this case, for roads and schools).

1:  Transportation Impact Fees

These are fees on NEW residential and commercial construction designed to pay for new road and other needed infrastructure generated by the new construction (like road widening, intersections).   The Board received a presentation on the issues at the last Board meeting, but will discuss what to do at an upcoming meeting.  Watch for it, because the general consensus  seems to be they will need SOME impact fees to offset other revenue losses, but it might be linked to unemployment figures.   It might mean the end of completely caving to the home and commercial construction builders and reinstatement of some impact fees to cover new infrastructure costs for growth.  The alternative is alternate taxes, and they have recommendations in earlier reports (at the above website link) which were ignored.

Here is last year's CFAC report on Transportation Impact fees, which once again was ignored by the County Commissioners, because they ignored a previous Impact Fee recommendation report also.   Why does anyone bother working on their committees??

2: School Impact Fees

These fees on new residential and commercial construction are used for School Capital spending (like buildings, some repairs, enhancements and purchases like classroom computers) and were waived by a WEAK School Board (our opinion) who caved to the Homebuilder’s industry instead of maintaining the revenue stream (estimated at $2-4-million per year) for the school system.   I was at the meeting where the Board majority of Debbie Stivender, Kyleen Fisher and Rosanne Brandeburg sold out to the homebuilders and declined to demand continuation of the impact fees. So, by default, the County Board, who had the final vote, continued their support of economic development over education financing and enacted a waiver of the School Impact fees two years ago.   The School Board & the County Board ignored results from an Impact Fee report, AND they did not implement any method to offset the tax waived.   Instead, what the School Board does is force the Administration to defer maintenance and capital spending.  That is one reason (State mandates and budget reductions are others) why you hear staff complaining about bad air conditioners, overcrowding, etc.   

So, if you want to follow the SCHOOL Impact Fee meetings, the next School CFAC meeting is this Thursday at the School District offices.  The County CFAC (Capital Facilities Advisory Committee) will meet this Thursday, November 29, 2012 9:30 A.M.  Location:   Board Room, Lake County School District Office, 201 West Burleigh Boulevard, Tavares, FL.  I don’t know which area will be covered, but there is a possibility the committee will finish more meetings, write a report and it will be ignored by the School Board and County Board who seem to only listen to the homebuilders without creating any revenue alternatives to make up for lost impact fees.   Thus there is a REAL possibility they will try to ask for more taxes to shift the cost of capital spending from new construction to all property owners (or other taxes, like fuel taxes, etc.)   

Let members of BOTH Boards know what YOU think – should they retain impact fees which tax those who create the need for new infrastructure, or should they shift those waived revenue needs to ALL taxpayers a different way.   For instance, if a developer builds a tract with 100 homes, it results in the need for more student seats, road widening, student bus transporation equipment, etc.   Should those new homeowners pay impact fee taxes on the new homes right when they move in, or should ALL taxpayers pay those fees and subsidize the infrastructure costs of the new homes.   Some people might call this income redistribution – you already have property, so the original owner might have paid impact fees on your property, but should you now also pay for the new homeowner infrastructure?    The homebuilders don’t want impact fees because it increases the financing costs of their products vs existing homes, so which will it be?  Equitable re-distribution or a requirement to pay new home and building costs up front?

My prediction is that since both Board Members Debbie Stivender and Rosanne Brandeburg were re-elected, they will join with Kyleen Fischer and side with the homebuilders again and do nothing, thus the County Board may once again waive their impact fees without a immediate plan to offset the reduced revenues.    As Tod Howard, a rational Board member said once (I paraphrase him) “Our job is to ensure properly funded education for students, not subsidize homebuilders by reducing a tax revenue stream…”. 

So if you voted to re-elect Stivender and Brandeburg, you now know the possible effect of that vote.  

The Impact Fee Bottom Line

The bottom line is that if you notice COUNTY roads are out of repair, and schools are running short of funds for capital spending on assets (including replacement equipment like School buses, vehicles, air conditioners and computers), both the County and School District Boards caved to homebuilders and waived the impact fees (which are one of several revenue sources) without implementing an alternate revenue method to offset the reduced impact revenues.  That to me is bad resource management when we all know next year will be fiscally worse. 

Recommendation:

I encourage you to visit the CFAC meetings, and also give public input at the County Board meeting when they discuss impact fees.

 Want to Read More about Lake County Impact Fees?

HERE are all of OUR earlier FiscalRangers.com Reports on local Lake County Impact Fees

The City of Tavares (as of today, Nov. 26, 2012) has a list of all residence fees, including the County Impact Fees HERE.  They show the Schools Impact Fee to still be $9324 per home with NO mention of the fees being waived.

Here is an article about the School Board reviewing an impact fee study last year, but then they refused to make any recommendations to the Lake County Board, thus the County Commissioners moved ahead and suspended the School impact fees for one year.  Then earlier this year, the County Board again suspended the School impact fees because the School Board didn't take a stand.  So, don't blame the County Board for waiving the fees, blame the do nothing School Board majority for not taking a stand.

Here is a 2010 article from Orlando Sentinel columnist Scott Maxwell also explaining how waived impact fees result in other taxes.

And, HERE is a 2010 column by Lauren Ritchie on the results of waiving impact fees when that was first proposed by Lake County Commissioner Jimmy Conner.

 

 

Lake Appraiser and Lake County Tax Collector Improve Transparency over Tax Authorities

Tavares, FL - Oct. 2, 2011 -  FiscalRangers has achieved an improvement in transparency over tax authorities listed on property tax notices. 

We recently heard at a meeting of the North Lake County Hospital District that a taxpayer had a terrible time finding out what that Hospital tax on their property was about.   She looked at her Tax Trim notice from the County Appraiser, Ed Havil, and the Tax Notice from County Tax Collector Bob McKee, and the only information for the Hospital District tax was the location and date of the final hearing to approve next year's taxes.  No phone, no email, no address and no website was provided.   Sure, she could call either office and they could provide a phone number, but no info on what the tax was or phone number listed on the notices or on the two agency websites (we thought).

In contrast, if you look at THIS Wisconsin based website, it focuses on improved transparency over taxes there.  And, if you visit THIS website from Milwaukee County, you find they have provided a "Milwaukee County Accountability Portal" which "allows the publci to view detaild data on SPENDING by Milwaukee County Government.

And, look at THIS 2012 notice of "Truth in Taxation" proposed taxes from Hennepin County, MN

And, here is their list of Taxing Authority Websites - notice ALL of them have websites.

So, we here in the Fiscal Rangers batcave sent emails to both McKee and Havill asking what could be done.   Both elected officials, who are up for re-election next year, jumped at the chance to provide more transparency and contact information for each "tax authority" that levies all those lines of taxes you see on your property tax.

It turns out McKee did have an existing page HERE which does list the phone contact number for each authority.   Havill didn't have anything.

However, both have responded.  

Havill has added a similar page HERE with both phone numbers and websites if available (The Hospital District still doesn't have a website, so it is blank). He also added links to the page on three different places, including the top main webpage.  Notice that a large number of the tax authorities, including the MSTU's, don't have any webpage to describe the statute that authorizes, them, the process for setting taxes, and explanation of uses of funds, etc.

McKee's existing website with Tax authority information is HERE.   He now has a HUGE button on the front page leading to a smilar page showing phone numbers for all the tax authorities that he collects money for (on your tax notice), but hasn't added websites yet.

So, at least now, you can find the phone numbers of the tax authorities so you can call and ask questions.  Our idea is you should be able to contact the tax authority website BEFORE taxes are decided for the future year, know what the taxes are for, know what the process is to set next year's tax rates, and get enough information BEFORE the decision meetings to decide if you want to provide an arbument of lowering or raising the tax rates or find how to appeal YOUR tax for that specific line item. 

We will keep pushing for more transparency.  We want both the Tax Collector and Appraiser to use the same acronyms for the tax authorities on their respective notices to taxpayers.  We want their notices to have a clear, big text notice of how to find the above websites (which they are working on).   We want all the tax authorities to have a website, phone and email listed on the Tax Collector and Appraiser's websites which lead to all the information you need to know about that tax. We want them to include Powerpoints they give to local government Boards and groups also, like the presentations by EMS or Fire Depts, or Library staff give to just about everyone. 

We also want the cities and the County to provide centralized tax explanation website pages.

Although not property tax based, the same should be available for sales taxes, fuel taxes, etc that have been voted locally. 

Florida law should require this kind of transparency over all local taxes in ALL counties, and it should be available in ONE place.   And, the local webpages should have a link to a State page describing ALL State Taxes, including sales taxes, fees, etc (which may exist, I just haven't looked yet).

vj

Transparency References:

http://www.opengovernmentmn.com/NAIOP_Transparency_www.pdf 

HERE is a sample "Truth in Taxation" notice from a Minnesota County government - it shows the tax authority contact info right on the notice of proposed taxes for 2012

 

 

Drastic Hikes in Florida Unemployment Insurance Start January 1, Reducing Funds for Other Agencies

Most Florida businesses will get an unexpected hike in employee unemployment insurance taxes starting January 1, 2010.   This problem will cascade into another fight for the total remaining Florida tax revenues, thus reducing the remaining funds for other agencies, including Schools, etc.  (and, remember, Charlie Crist just approved the $600-million SunRail system, which will also compete for funds.  Additionally,if Obama's health plan passes, it mandates drastic hikes in Medicaid payments for Florida and other states that have low Medicaid payments, thus that will "suck" more funds out of Florida State cash).

Below is a briefing sent out by the Eustis Chamber of Commerce that gives a good description of the tax hike, which significantly increases

Taxes Today - an essay by Charlie Reese

Lake County local Ralph Smith sent me this which he received from Stan Bainter.

Kinda makes you tired of all the taxes he describes below!    This is a good item to read before going to this week's various government agencies to watch them approve their budgets and any tax increases.
vj

545  PEOPLE
By Charlie Reese

Politicians are the only people in the world

 who create problems and then campaign against them.

Have you ever  wondered, if both the Democrats and the Republicans are against deficits, WHY do we have deficits?

Have you ever wondered, if  all the politicians are against inflation and high taxes, WHY do we have  inflation and high taxes?

You and I don't propose a federal budget.  The president does.

You and I don't have the  Constitutional authority to vote on appropriations. The House of  Representatives does.

You and I don't write the tax code, Congress  does.

You and I don't set fiscal policy, Congress does.

You  and I don't control monetary policy, the Federal Reserve  Bank does.

One hundred senators, 435 congressmen, one  president, and nine Supreme Court justices equates to 545 human  beings out of the 300 million are directly, legally, morally,  and individually

responsible for the domestic problems that plague  this country.

I excluded the members of the Federal Reserve  Board because that problem was created by the  Congress.   In 1913, Congress delegated its Constitutional duty  to provide a sound currency to a federally chartered, but private, central  bank.

I excluded all the special interests and lobbyists for a  sound reason.. They have no legal authority.  They have no  ability to coerce a senator, a congressman, or a president to do one  cotton-picking thing.   I don't care if they offer a politician $1 million dollars in cash.  The  politician has the power to accept or reject it. No matter what  the lobbyist promises, it is the legislator's responsibility  to determine  how he votes.

Those 545

human beings spend much of their energy  convincing you that what they did is not their fault.    They cooperate in this common con regardless of party.
What  separates a politician from a normal human being is an  excessive amount of gall.   No normal  human being would have the gall of a  Speaker, who stood up and criticized the President for creating  deficits..   The president can only propose a budget.    He cannot force the Congress to accept  it.

The Constitution, which is the supreme law of the  land, gives sole responsibility to the House of  Representatives for originating and approving appropriations and taxes.   Who is the speaker of the House?    Nancy Pelosi.  She is  the leader of the majority party.  She and  fellow House members, not the president, can approve any budget they want.  If the president vetoes it,

they can pass it over his veto if  they agree  to.

It seems inconceivable to me that a nation of 300 million can  not replace 545 people who stand convicted -- by present facts -- of  incompetence and irresponsibility.   I can't think of a  single domestic problem  that is not traceable directly to those 545 people.  When you fully  grasp the plain truth that 545 people exercise the power of the federal  government, then it must follow that what exists is what they want to  exist.

If the tax code is unfair, it's because they want it  unfair.

If the budget is in the red, it's because they want it in  the red ...

If the Army & Marines are in  IRAQ ,  it's because they want them in IRAQ

If they do not  receive social security but are on an elite retirement plan not available  to the people, it's because they want it that

way.

There are no  insoluble government problems.

Do not let these 545 people shift  the blame to bureaucrats, whom they hire and whose jobs they can  abolish; to lobbyists, whose gifts and advice they can reject; to  regulators, to whom they give the power to regulate and from whom they can  take this power.   Above all, do not let them con you into  the belief that there exists disembodied mystical forces like "the  economy," "inflation," or "politics" that prevent them from doing  what they take an oath to do.

Those 545 people, and they  alone, are responsible.

They, and they alone, have the  power.

They, and they alone, should be held accountable by the  people who are their bosses.

Provided the voters have the  gumption to manage their own employees.

We should vote all of  them out of office and clean up their mess!

Charlie

Reese is a former columnist of the Orlando Sentinel  Newspaper.

What you do with this article now that you have  read it.......... Is up to you.
This might be funny if it weren't so darned true.
Be sure to read all the way to the end:
 
           Tax his land,
           Tax his bed,
           Tax the table
           At which he's fed.
 
           Tax his tractor,
           Tax his mule,
           Teach him taxes
           Are the rule.
 
           Tax his work,
           Tax his

pay,
           He works for peanuts
           Anyway!
           Tax his cow,
           Tax his goat,
           Tax his pants,
           Tax his coat.
           Tax his ties,
           Tax his shirt,
           Tax his work,
           Tax his dirt.
 
           Tax his tobacco,
           Tax his drink,
           Tax him if he
           Tries to think.
 
           Tax his cigars,
           Tax his

beers,
           If he cries
           Tax his tears.
 
           Tax his car,
           Tax his gas,
           Find other ways
           To tax his ass.
 
           Tax all he has
           Then let him know
           That you won't be done
           Till he has no dough.
 
           When he screams and hollers;
           Then tax him some more,
           Tax him till
           He's good and sore.
           Then tax his

coffin,
           Tax his grave,
           Tax the sod in
           Which he's laid..
 
           Put these words
           Upon his tomb,
           Taxes drove me
           to my doom...'
 
           When he's gone,
           Do not relax,
           Its time to apply
           The inheritance tax.    
           Accounts Receivable Tax
           Building Permit Tax
           CDL license Tax
 

         Cigarette Tax
           Corporate Income Tax
           Dog License Tax
           Excise Taxes
           Federal Income Tax
           Federal Unemployment Tax (FUTA)
           Fishing License Tax
           Food License Tax
           Fuel Permit Tax
           Gasoline Tax (currently 44.75 cents per gallon)
           Gross Receipts Tax
           Hunting License Tax
           Inheritance Tax
           Inventory Tax
           IRS Interest Charges IRS

Penalties (tax on top of tax)
           Liquor Tax
           Luxury Taxes
           Marriage License Tax
           Medicare Tax
           Personal Property Tax
           Property Tax
           Real Estate Tax
           Service Charge T ax
           Social Security Tax
           Road Usage Tax
           Sales Tax
           Recreational Vehicle Tax
           School Tax
           State Income Tax
           State Unemployment Tax (SUTA)
   

       Telephone Federal Excise Tax
           Telephone Federal Universal Service FeeTax
           Telephone Federal, State and Local Surcharge Taxes
           Telephone Minimum Usage Surcharge=2 0Tax
           Telephone Recurring and Non-recurring Charges Tax
           Telephone State and Local Tax
           Telephone Usage Charge Tax
           Utility Taxes
           Vehicle License Registration Tax
           Vehicle Sales Tax
           Watercraft Registration Tax
           Well Permit Tax
           Workers Compensation

Tax
 
           STILL THINK THIS IS FUNNY? Not one of these taxes existed 100 years ago, and our nation was the most prosperous in the world.  We had absolutely no national debt, had the largest middle class in the world, and Mom stayed home to raise the kids..
What in the hell happened? Can you spell 'politicians?'
And I still have to 'press 1' for English!?
 
I hope this goes around THE USA at least 100 times!!!  YOU can help it get

there!!!
           GO AHEAD - - - BE AN AMERICAN!!!