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Brooksville council directs staff to develop RFP for impact-fee study amid SB 180 uncertainty
Summary
After debate about costs and state law limits, Brooksville council voted 5–0 to have staff prepare an RFP for a new impact-fee study and return the RFP to council for review before issuing it. City attorney Becky Voss said SB 180 is unclear and does not currently bar higher fees.
Brooksville City Council on Nov. 17 directed city staff to prepare a request for proposals for a new impact-fee study and to bring the draft RFP back to the council for review before it is issued.
The decision followed a lengthy staff presentation on past studies and a council discussion about timing, cost and whether recent state legislation known as Senate Bill 180 (SB 180) would prevent the city from implementing higher fees. City Manager (name not given) outlined that Brooksville’s last impact-fee study was completed Sept. 23, 2022, at a reported cost of $81,051 and that comparable studies in other jurisdictions ranged from roughly $53,000 to $152,000 depending on scope.
Council members said they want to be proactive because the city faces substantial new housing — one council member cited roughly 4,500 potential new homes — and aging infrastructure needs. At the same time, several members urged fiscal caution, noting the possibility that legislative changes could affect fee collection or enforcement.
Becky Voss, the city’s attorney on the phone, told council that SB 180’s language is unclear and that there is no controlling case law that definitively prevents the city from adopting higher impact fees. "It is not at all apparent that SB 180 would stop us from having higher impact fees," she said, adding that the city could address legal challenges if they arise and that proceeding with a study now would position the city to act if courts or the legislature clarify the law.
Mayor Tanner and a majority of council members favored moving forward with an RFP that would be funded from the city’s impact-fee funds (accounts 110–115), and the council voted 5–0 to direct staff to prepare the RFP and return it for council review before release. City Manager said staff will present the draft RFP to council before it is posted.
What happens next: staff will draft the RFP, bring it to council for discussion and then issue it through the city’s procurement process. The council did not adopt a study scope or select a consultant at the Nov. 17 meeting.
