Developers Oppose Increase In School Impact Fees

An Orange County School Board consultant proposed a 52% increase in impact fees, making them the highest in the state at $4,287 per new home -- and politicians are listening. "It's time to evaluate these fees," County Chairman Rich Crotty said. But developers fee betrayed and say the ultimate victims of any fee increase will be home buyers, who will absorb the cost. "It doesn't make sense," said Tom Lagomarsino, Ex. Director of the Home Builders Association of Metro Orlando, which supported a half-cent sales-tax boost for school construction that passed in September. "You would think that if you passed a ... tax increase, you would decrease the impact fee requirement. The people who should be angry aren't the builders, but the consumers." During the past decade, school enrollment in Orange County has increased by about 5,000 students each year.