Issue link: https://newsleader.uberflip.com/i/104211
Sarasota News Leader January 18, 2013 Page 34 Harriott ran through the theoretical consequences of various extension scenarios, pointing out potential shortfalls to Capital Improvement Program projects in future years, but cautioned that those numbers are mere projections. While the staff recommended extending the temporary rate reduction only till July, Harriott told the commission that the Gulf Coast Builders Exchange, the powerful industry trade group, "has indicated a desire of an extension of two years" in order "to provide business certainty." Jonathan Paul, named the county's interim transportation director after Davis' resignation, said the construction industry is likely looking at a flat 2013, a marginally improved 2014 and finally a return to "normal" in 2015. Commissioner Joe Barbetta was the first to commit to supporting the two-year extension, asking staff to figure out the correct rates in the meantime and present them to the board. Commissioner Joe Barbetta/Photo by Norman Schimmel Commissioner Charles Hines said he felt one year was a sufficient extension, but he was "waffling" on the vote because he wanted "to have real numbers" before making a long-term commitment. He and Patterson eventually voted against Barbetta's proposal, which passed with the support of Commissioners Christine Robinson and Carolyn Mason. "Everybody in business today knows you need some degree of certainty to budget," he argued, adding later that impact fees make up a "substantial" portion of the sale price of a Will the rate reduction prove to be the ongonew home. ing "stimulus" the commissioners want? Patterson said she would not support the twoyear extension. Lacking the data to know what long-term rates should look like, she said, she could not "take a definitive step right now." Patterson pointed out that the broad problem with any short-term reduction in fees or taxes is that no one ever wants those rates to go back up. During public testimony, Venice resident Janice McDermott Collins argued that high impact fees "did little to diminish the demand for more housing and development" during the county's boom years. The key to a construction industry rebound is increased demand, she said, not lower fees. "This obvious relationship between supply "I don't support it," she said. "I think we and demand is the real impetus for building should be planning to get back to a fair rate." and development," she said. %