Relief From County Impact Fees
Purpose
The purpose of this policy is to establish guidelines under which the Board of County Commissioners (BOCC) will pay County impact fees on behalf of certain nonprofit social service organizations. These guidelines are intended to limit the payment of these one-time regulatory fees to just those organizations currently under contract to provide County Services. The cost of this benefit should be reflected as a fixed, non-recurring component of the County’s contractual cost for the services provided. The requirement for an existing contractual relationship is intended to discourage organizations from seeking what may be viewed as a charitable contribution without explicit benefit to County taxpayers.
Under extraordinary circumstances, a similar benefit may be extended to other organizations where a public purpose is served, but where no contractual relationship exists.
Policy
It is the policy of the BOCC to consider a request from an organization that serves a legitimate public purpose that the BOCC pay any applicable County transportation/right-of-way impact fees, parks impact fees, school impact fees, and fire impact fees on behalf of a nonprofit social service organization meeting all of the following criteria:
Have an existing contract to provide social services on behalf of the BOCC resulting from either participation in the County’s biennial competitive or non-competitive Request-For-Applications (RFA) process, or as a result of having been previously selected by the BOCC through a competitive process to provide County social services;
Be a nonprofit organization certified by the Internal Revenue Service as a 501(c)3;
Be non-discriminatory based on age, race, color, sex, age, religion, handicap, marital status, or national origin; and
Be licensed by the State of Florida and Hillsborough County, as appropriate. All residential facilities must be licensed by the State of Florida.
The payment of impact fees for such organizations will be accomplished through amendment of an existing contract, providing for a one-time payment on behalf of the organization. In such circumstances, the BOCC stipulates that such request for relief shall not exceed $25,000 and a super-majority vote of the BOCC is required to approve payment of the BOCC.
Responsibilities
It is the responsibility of the Capital Program Administrator, with the assistance of the Management and Budget Department, to implement this policy.