DeLand, FL - A recent vote by the Volusia County Council won't give builders the time to pay impact fees sooner as they requested.
It was during their regularly scheduled meeting today that Volusia County leaders denied a request from the Volusia Building Industry to allow builders to pay fees sooner before the fees go into effect in March.
Frank Severino, the president of the Volusia Building Industry and Vice President of Budd Severino Advanced Home Exteriors, Inc., said the current timeline couldn't work.
According to Severino, if the request fails builders will have no choice but to pay the increased fees as they cannot pay fees until they receive all permits from the county, which, as Severino pointed out, could take up to six months.
"The county building department as well as 16 other municipality building departments process permit applications at different rates," said Severino. "Processing times vary from a few weeks to more than six months. The (biggest) duration that we can prove to you is seven months."
If the request was denied, builders would have no choice but to pay the increased fees instead of the lower fee, due to those slow processing times.
"Who will be responsible for the difference in the impact fee at the closing table?" Severino asked the council. "No matter how you answer that question, at least one of your constituents is going to be injured."
The Volusia County Council responded by saying that an impact fee's worth is determined at the time of permit issuance. If a builder were to pay the fee before the time of issuance and the impact fee would end up being more than originally thought, then a lien would be put on the property as a result.
"It has to be done, and completed, and totaled so there's no fixing of it," said Councilman Ben Johnson speaking on the issue. "All I'm trying to do is find some fairness and some end because we have to take this thing and put it to bed!"
Councilman Johnson then commented that the deadline is set and has been set so it's fair for everyone involved in the change, "whether you like 'em, don't like 'em or don't care."
Impact fees are still set to go up on March 4th.
