Dear Editor,
Thanks to your reader for giving us the opportunity to provide the public with some very much needed education about school developer fees (letter to the editor Thursday, July 27). In the letter the writer asserts that, “It appears that the readers responding to your survey regarding developers and school facilities don’t understand that developers are not qualified to build schools and don’t realize that every project already pays significant school impact fees.”
First of all, many members of the public do not realize that the Gilroy Unified School District is in no way legally related to the City of Gilroy. The district is a state sanctioned agency operating as a sovereign entity, and receives no impact fee money from the city. When the city raises its impact fees as it did at its July 17 Council meeting, the district receives no benefit. Yet we commonly get calls and complaints when the city raises its fees.
Our developer fee structure is overseen by the State Allocation Board which requires each school district to have a “Developer Fee Justification Report” prepared any time the state board approves a fee increase (at a maximum every two years). This very complicated and comprehensive study is prepared by a third party at a substantial cost and reviews enrollment growth, student yield factors, cost of construction, planned facilities, and calculation of fees imposed. The report, on display at the district office during the public review process and available on the district’s website (www.gusd.k12.ca.us/pdf/Developer_Fee_Study.pdf), must clearly justify 1) the imposition of fees and 2) the level of fees proposed.
The Developer Fee Justification Report can also result in a reduction in developer fees as it did in August of 2004 when the district lowered its fee by approximately 30 percent because it could no longer justify Level II fees. Unlike the 60-day waiting period accompanying an approved increase, a decrease was imposed the day after the public hearing and resolution adoption.
Currently, the district is able to charge a state mandated Level I maximum of $2.63 per square foot of living space for a single family residential unit. The cost to construct a school as documented in the Developer Fee Justification Report prepared in February 2006 was $9.45 per square foot. Stated in terms of cost per residence based on an average of 2,158 square feet, the district collects $5,675, while the cost to build is $20,293. Developer fees barely pay for the installation of a portable classroom. In fact, only 14 percent of the District’s Facilities Master Plan revenue comes from developer fees. The District receives no other revenue from the construction of a home.
It is the district’s belief that new housing creates the need for new school facilities and the process of charging a developer (and the ultimate home buyer) is appropriate. This fee only represents a small portion of the cost of providing quality facilities for a growing population. It will be very difficult for the school district to support new subdivisions in the future with this great disparity in revenue as compared to cost to construct.
Steve Brinkman, assistant superintendent,
Gilroy Unified School District
