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Board approves agreements letting Bradenton, Palmetto collect school impact fees; collection fee ceiling set at 3.5%
Summary
The board approved interlocal agreements with Bradenton and Palmetto to facilitate collection of educational facilities impact fees; county staff said collection agents may charge up to a 3.5% ceiling to cover costs and the fee is intended to reflect actual expenditure.
The Manatee County School Board voted 5-0 to approve interlocal agreements authorizing the city of Bradenton and the city of Palmetto to collect educational facilities impact fees on the district—ehalf.
District staff explained those agreements include a cap on collection costs. "The way the interlocal agreement is written is that the municipality or group agency that is doing the collection has the ability to charge a fee, but that fee has to reflect the actual cost," operations/finance staff member Mister Rinaldi said. He said the agreements establish a 3.5% ceiling for that administrative charge and noted some municipalities historically have chosen a lower rate or no fee.
Board member Mary Foreman had pulled the Bradenton item from consent to ask whether the 3.5% charge would reduce district revenue. Rinaldi responded that municipalities may charge a collection fee to reflect their staff time; he described the fee both as an addition to the collected impact fee and later, in the same exchange, as an amount that can be reflected in the payment process to the developer. Board members said they wanted the clarification that the charge is intended to cover actual collection costs and to be assessed consistently.
The board approved the Palmetto interlocal agreement with no additional discussion. Both motions passed 5-0.
What the agreement does and who pays: according to staff, municipalities or their collection agents may charge a fee up to 3.5% to cover actual collection costs; that cost is assessed in the collection process and, per the staff explanation, is intended to be borne by the permittee/developer. The transcript contains slightly inconsistent wording by staff about whether those collection charges are strictly "in addition to" the district—ee receipts or are handled as a deduction in the remittance process; the board sought clarification during the meeting.
Next steps: the agreements are executed so municipalities can begin collection under the new square-footage-based impact-fee structure that takes effect in September.
