Wildwood will reset its impact fees in the wake of a new state law that limits increases to 12.5 percent a year.
Commissioners voted Monday night to implement lower parks and recreation fee increases in four installments over a three-year period.
The reset fees would rise to $366.30 per residential unit on Oct. 1, 2024, up from $244.22 this year. They would go up to $274.74 on Oct. 1; to $305.26 on Oct. 1, 2022; and to $335.78 on Oct. 1, 2023.
Impact fees are a one-time charge for newly developed property. The fees, which are not a continuing tax, are designed to offset the cost of new development.
In March, the city commission voted to hike fees to $483.38 after three years, but that increase would violate the new state law. That increase would have covered about 70 percent of the city’s parks and recreation budget.
Commissioners also voted in March to cut law enforcement impact fees by 4 percent to $271.43 per residential unit and to cut non-residential fees by 44 percent to 19 cents per square foot. Those fees would recoup about 75 percent of Wildwood’s law enforcement budget. This year’s fees are $284.12 per residential unit and 34 cents per non-residential square foot.
The March increase in park and recreation fees as well as the decrease in law enforcement fees were based on a study by Stantec, a Florida consulting firm.
The state law was signed by Gov. Ron DeSantis and cosponsored by state Rep. Brett Hage, R-33. The Villages was the largest local beneficiary of the state law because it pays the highest amount of Sumter County road impact fees due to aggressive development. Hage receives a six-figure annual salary from The Villages.
Sumter County commissioners also approved road impact fee increases earlier this year but rolled them back after the state law was enacted. The law was retroactive to last Jan. 1.