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Schools Accuse Commission Of Cash Grab

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By MIKE SALINERO, The Tampa Tribune

Published: January 12, 2008

Updated: 01/12/2008 12:14 am

TAMPA - A county proposal to take some of the money paid by developers for school construction and use it to build roads caught Hillsborough County school officials by surprise Friday.

The proposed ordinance is scheduled for a public hearing and possible adoption at Wednesday's county commission meeting. It would allow school impact fees paid by developers to be used for transportation improvements made necessary by new school construction.

The ordinance was set for a public hearing at the commission's Jan. 3 meeting. An aide to commission chairman Ken Hagan said commissioners asked the county attorney's office at a retreat in December to draft the ordinance.

School officials say they were not alerted the county would move to take part of the impact fee money, which the school system has already budgeted for its 5-year construction plan.

"We have never been informed by the county they were going to make these changes in the impact fees," said school board attorney Tom Gonzalez.

Deputy County Administrator Wally Hill said the possibility of using some school impact fee money for off-site transportation improvements has been discussed before in many commission meetings. He said that if the school board doesn't pay for its share of an increase in traffic impacts, it leaves a void in funding that the county has to pick up.

"In order to do the project you've got to have someone pay the rest of that cost," Hill said. "Who's going to pay for it? We haven't resolved that."

The commission and school board have been arguing for years about the amount of school impact fees and how they can be used. In 2006, the commission increased the impact fees for schools, which had been among the lowest in the state. The vote was 4-3, with Commissioners Ronda Storms and Brian Blair complaining the school system mismanages its finances.

Since then, the county has argued the school district should have to pay for the effects of increased traffic related to new schools. District officials agreed they would pay for road, signal or sidewalk improvements, but only adjacent to a school site.

The school district has asked a judge for a ruling on whether the impact fee law allows school construction money to be used for off-site transportation improvements. A hearing has not been set, and a court-ordered mediation failed to resolve the disagreement.

School officials say the latest impact fee ordinance, passed in 2006, does not allow expenditures on road projects away from the school site.

"The study used to establish school impact fees had no provision for transportation impacts," said Cathy Valdes, chief facilities officer for the school district.

Valdes said Hagan told her two weeks ago the county was investigating whether the impact fee money could be used for transportation but said he didn't mention putting an ordinance on Wednesday's commission agenda.

"I'm shocked," Valdes said.

Reporter Mike Salinero can be reached at (813) 259-8303 or msalinero@tampatrib.com.

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