Panama City Beach adopts revised impact fees after consultant’s seasonal‑demand analysis

Panama City Beach — The City Council voted to adopt Ordinance 1665, updating the city’s impact‑fee structure for land development, after hearing a consultant’s analysis of how seasonal visitors affect demand for police and fire services. The ordinance passed on second reading following a roll call vote in which all five council members voted yes.

Consultant Shaun Oacio of Ref House Financial Consultants briefed council members on how impact fees are calculated and why the city charges them to new development rather than existing residents. Oacio said the analysis uses three factors to allocate costs between residential and non‑residential development: call demand (emergency/service calls), developed square footage and a functional‑population measure reflecting where people spend time. He said the city’s call data shows a peak visiting‑season increase “by at least 50%,” and presented an alternate weighting that raises the call component from one‑third to 50% to reflect that seasonality.

Under the base scenario presented earlier in the review, the police impact fee per residential dwelling unit was shown as $194 and the fire‑rescue fee as $292. The alternate, seasonally rebased approach would reduce those residential fees modestly — to about $172 for police and $254 for fire — but it would shift more of the cost burden to non‑residential land uses and, according to the consultant, would reduce the city’s projected impact‑fee revenue by roughly $137,000 over 2026–2030 (about $50,000 for police and $87,000 for fire). "We evaluated making the demand component 50% because the data support the seasonal peaking," Oacio said. "But that alternative would result in an overall revenue loss to the city under the current growth forecast."

Kurt Artog, representing the Bay Building Industries Association, urged the council to consider placing a larger parks and recreation share on commercial and hotel development rather than on residential units, saying hotels and visitors drive the need for some amenities.

Council members discussed the sensitivity analysis and the fiscal consequence of shifting the allocation. Mayor Tedimemer summarized the policy principle driving the vote: "Growth paying for growth," and the council voted to approve Ordinance 1665 as presented. City staff said the ordinance will take effect 90 days after adoption.

The ordinance amends the city code to impose modified impact fees for municipal police, fire, recreation and library services necessitated by new development; it also provides for severability and implementation language. The council’s approval was procedural (second reading adoption) and does not change previously approved funding commitments for current capital projects.

What happens next: The ordinance becomes effective 90 days after adoption; staff will proceed with implementation steps and the updated fee schedule will be applied to new development permits after that date.