Brevard County collects educational facilities impact fees from residential development for construction of educational facilities or capital improvements that provide educational capacity in the Impact Fee Benefit District from which the funds were collected. 

The funds may be used on capacity projects identified in the District's Annual Educational Facilities Work Program. The process by which funds are allocated to projects is outlined in the Interlocal Agreement between Brevard County and the School Board. Each Benefit District (North and South) has an Educational Facilities Impact Fee Benefit District Advisory Committee that includes the School Board, County and applicable municipal representatives. Approximately every quarter, the District Advisory Committees make a recommendation to the School Board. The School Board approves or modifies the recommendation and then submits the funding request to Brevard County for approval by the Board of County Commissioners. The process can take 2-4 months before the funds are received by the District.

The Board action requested allocates the impact fee revenue collected through the quarter ending September 30, 2020. The Impact Fee Benefit District Advisory Committees met on October 12, 2020. The Committees' recommendations for new educational facilities impact fees and accrued interest through September 30, 2020 are attached to this agenda memo and are summarized as follows:

The border between the north and south areas is approximately Barnes Boulevard. 

The elementary and secondary capacity projects are not yet determined due to fluctuating enrollment. These funds can be used to fund classroom additions (as was done at Cocoa Jr./Sr. High School) or new schools (as was done with Viera Elementary). More discussion of the the allocation of these resources to specific projects is planned for the December 15, 2020 School Board Workshop on capacity. 

In this quarterly cycle, the proposed allocation to debt service is $1 million. When using educational impact fees to pay debt for prior construction of student stations, the debt must be related to a project within the impact fee benefit district from which the fees were collected. The Finance Department has confirmed that the proposed use of the funds is in compliance with this requirement as outlined in the Interlocal Agreement and Florida Statutes. This allocation to debt service was not budgeted, so this will result in a reduction in the amount of capital funds used to pay debt service by $1 million. 

Finally, educational impact fees had been previously allocated to provide additional cafeteria capacity to support the student stations that were added to Mims Elementary School. The school has capacity for 725 students, but the cafeteria is space-constrained and struggling to support the students enrolled (400-450). The use of educational impact fees to fund a stand-alone ancillary facility in support of student stations was not clearly defined in the interlocal agreement or Florida Statutes. Extensive research did not indicate this was prohibited (or permitted), and the staff was unable to get a definitive answer from the Florida Department of Education. Consequently the recommendation is to reallocate these funds to the North Elementary Capacity project. 

The Mims cafeteria project remains an important aspect of utilizing the student stations at the school. The estimated cost of the entire project is approximately $2.5 million. In lieu of educational impact fees, capital funds will be used to fund this project. The $1 million debt service allocation from educational impact fees will result in unbudgeted capital availability. Staff is recommending that the Board also approve utilizing these funds ($1 million capital) to initiate work on the Mims cafeteria project. The remaining funds will be budgeted through the capital allocation cycle. The initial steps of this project will be a competitive solicitation for architectural services so that design can start in the spring of 2021. 

The Five-Year Work Plan (also on the November 17, 2020 School Board agenda) includes educational facilities impact fee funding and project schedules for capacity projects. The schedules in the draft Work Program reflect starting planning and design work this year, but will be adjusted based on direction from the School Board at the upcoming capacity workshop. 

The pending close outs of the Viera Elementary School project and the Cocoa Jr./Sr. High School addition project will also result in educational impact fees that can be reprogrammed for capacity projects. Reprogramming funds requires consideration by the applicable Impact Fee Benefit District Advisory Committee and the Brevard County Board of County Commissioners. 

Approve the recommendations of the Educational Facilities Impact Fee Benefit District Advisory Committees.

Authorize the Superintendent, or designee, to request Brevard County disburse the Educational Impact Fees available through September 30,
2020.

Approve utilizing $1 million in capital funds for the Mims Elementary School cafeteria project pending approval and disbursement of the recommended allocation of educational facilities impact fees by the Brevard County Commission.