Manatee County commissioners have approved a return to the old school impact fee to help pay for new schools and expansion at others as more people with children move to the county and build homes.
The 5-2 vote to re-instate the school impact fee will possibly not be as onerous as it could have been though.
Commission added a condition that as long as voters agree to continue the half cent sales tax hike that also funds schools when it expires in 2017, the impact fee for schools will only be about half what consultants recommended.
That means people building a new home would pay $2,032, instead of $4 thousand that was recommended.
Still, the reduced school impact fee plus recent impact fee passed by county commissioners to fund libraries, roads, parks, and other services, will make the total paid by Manatee County home builders more than almost all other southwest Florida counties.
If voters fail to extend the sales tax hike to fund schools, the school impact fee would go to 75 percent of the recommended amount, or $4,856.25 for a single-family home.
