§ 6.07.07. Fee districts.

Neighborhood park land purchase and park construction fees will be collected and expended based on commissioner districts in which the development project is sited. Because it is not practical for all neighborhood parks funded by these fees to be constructed within the service area of all the projects that were obligated to pay the fees, all development projects will be presented the option to allow the county to purchase five acres of land within their projects at the neighborhood park land purchase fee in use at that time. Otherwise, the fees will be placed in trust for each commissioner district and the county will continually identify and purchase five to ten acre parcels in these areas.

1.

Trust funds: There are hereby established neighborhood park trust funds for each commissioner district that are incorporated in this article by reference. Subsequent to the adoption of the ordinance from which this article is derived, should any parcel or area of land located within the unincorporated area of Okaloosa County be annexed into a municipality which, at the initial effective date of the ordinance from which this article is derived, was located within an adjacent unincorporated area of Okaloosa County, the boundaries of the municipality shall be deemed amended as of the date of annexation so as to include the land annexed within the municipality. Such amendment shall be for the purposes of this article only and shall not affect any prior payment of fees or expenditure of funds attributable to the annexed property.

2.

Funds will be deposited into one of five specific trust funds according to the area where collected as identified in exhibit A following this article. Expenditures will be within these five zones unless a local park project would provide substantial benefit to other zones.

3.

The county administrator shall present to the board of county commissioners the proposed capital improvement program of the capital improvement element of the comprehensive plan for neighborhood park recreation facilities, assigning funds, including any accrued interest, from the trust funds to specific improvements and related expenses. Monies, including any accrued interest, not assigned in any fiscal period shall be retained in the trust funds until the next fiscal period except as provided by the refund provisions of this article. Funds shall be deemed expended in the order in which they are collected.

4.

The county shall add three percent to the fees calculated for neighborhood parks. These funds will be retained in the general fund to offset the cost of administering this article.

5.

Refunds. If no construction has been commenced within five years following the quarter after the fees were collected, then the fee payer shall be entitled to a refund of the fee paid as a condition for its issuance except that the county shall retain a portion of the funds to offset the costs of refund, based on the following schedule:

Fee Paid Excluding Administrative Fee	Retained Percent
$5,000.00 or less	3%
$5,000.01 or more	3% of the first $5,000.00 and 1% of the remainder over $5,000.00

 

a.

Any funds not expended or encumbered by the end of the calendar quarter immediately following five years from the date the district park and local park impact fees were paid shall, upon application of the fee payer within 180 days of that date, be returned to such fee payer.

(Ord. No. 11-01, § 2, 1-18-11)