Marion County adopts fire-rescue and EMS impact fees; ordinance sets collections to begin Oct. 1

The Marion County Board of County Commissioners unanimously adopted an ordinance creating fire-rescue and emergency medical services (EMS) impact fees, approving a consultant—s impact-fee study and adopting a fee schedule the board directed be collected beginning Oct. 1, county counsel said.

The ordinance creates Division 3 of Chapter 10, Article 11 of the Marion County Code and establishes separate countywide EMS fees and fire fees that will apply to the unincorporated county and the municipalities of Valley View, Dunnellon, Reddick and McIntosh where noted. The ordinance also includes developer-credit provisions for contributions such as land or station construction.

The fee study presented to the board documents the county—s inventory of fire and EMS capital facilities, estimates the cost of adding capacity for growth, subtracts anticipated funding from other revenue sources, and divides the net capital cost across demand to compute per-unit fees. "Impact fees by definition are 1 time capital charge to new development," the consultant said at the hearing, describing the study's consumption-based methodology.

Key figures reported in the study include 32 fire stations; roughly 174,000 square…