OXNARD : School Board to Consider Fee Hike

The board of the Oxnard Elementary School District at its meeting tonight will consider increasing the fees it levies on residential developers to help pay for school building projects.

Under a new law that went into effect Jan. 1, school districts statewide can raise residential developer fees by as much as $1 per square foot of construction. Districts are now permitted to charge up to $1.65 per square foot.

The elementary district now splits developer fees with the Oxnard High School District, which receives 45% of the money collected while the elementary system gets 55%.

If the board approves the fee increase, the elementary district will receive an additional 55 cents per square foot with the remainder going to the high school district, said Sandra Herrera, the elementary district’s business manager.

Last year, the elementary district collected about $700,000 in developer fees, Herrera said. With the new fee increase, the district could generate an additional $400,000 this year, depending on how much development occurs, she said.

School board member James Suter said the district has little choice but to raise the fees to keep up with its building needs.

“I’m for it,” Suter said. “We’ve got to keep our head above water.”

But the law allowing fee increases may only be temporary because it is just one part of a complex legislative package that all hinges on the passage of a statewide ballot measure in June, 1994.

If the ballot measure is approved by voters it will permit local school bond measures to be passed by a simple majority, rather than the two-thirds vote now required. It would also mean that any new developer fees imposed by school districts would become permanent.

However, if the ballot measure fails, the higher fees would have to be rescinded and the district would have to return the fees to their present level.

Suter said this will not affect his vote on a fee increase.

“We’ll take what we can get, even if it’s only for a year,” he said.