For and Against: The Mobility Fee Moratorium (2013-094)

Pro moratorium spreadsheet presented to the Downtown Investment Authority indicating $82 million in job cost spurred by $3.1 million worth of waived mobility fees.

4. FOR MORATORIUM: According to CMSO data, development worth $82.174 million in job costs was permitted during the first waiver period, an average rate of $6.847 million per month.  In contrast, since the first waiver period ended in October, 2012, only two projects (blue) worth $452,500 in job cost have paid mobility fees totaling $66,000.

AGAINST MORATORIUM: As of mid February 2013, 18 projects have moved forward. 16 (most are eligible for mobility fee waivers) have been omitted from this list by moratorium proponents for some reason. According to CMSO data, the last day for an eligible Mobility Fee Certificate holder to apply for the fee waiver is April 19, 2013. (Note: The eligibility period for a mobility fee certificate holder is 6-months from its issuance date).  Until this fee waiver process ends, it’s disingenuous to taxpayers to attempt to utilize two recent non-eligible projects as a trend of ineffectiveness.



18 applications between 9/21/2012 and 2/14/2013. Most projects have not had to pay mobility fees because they either take advantage of the mobility plan's location criteria or are still eligible to be granted mobility fee waivers from last year's moratorium experiment.




5. FOR MORATORIUM: The $82.174 million does not include the money injected into the local economy on site work and payroll for design and construction.  It also does not include the documentary stamp tax revenue to the local government from deeds and mortgages associated with the development.

AGAINST MORATORIUM: By providing the private sector with a legal public handout, it is hollow-hearted to make the assumption that all projects that applied for mobility fee waivers would not have moved forward if a moratorium were not in place. For example, two of the largest mobility fee waivers were granted to 7-Eleven, Inc.  Bringing in $16.7 billion in annual revenues (2009), prior to the consideration and approval of the first moratorium, 7-Eleven Inc. announced their intentions to open as many as 80 stores in North Florida by 2015. The reason for this was not a mobility fee moratorium.  It was the expiration of a 20-year non-compete agreement with the Gate Petroleum that required the company to stay out of the Jacksonville market. This is development and job creation that would have happened regardless of the mobility fee moratorium experiment and should not be promoted as anything otherwise.

source: 7-Eleven re-enters Northeast Florida: 20-year non-compete deal with Gate expires  http://www.bizjournals.com/jacksonville/print-edition/2011/10/14/7-eleven-re-enters-northeast-florida.html?page=all




6. FOR MORATORIUM: $3.185 million in mobility fees were waived during the first waiver period, but the $82.174 million in improvements that were permitted will generate $824,640 in General Fund revenue (calculated at 2012 millage rate for the General Services District and Urban Service District 1 of 10.0353 mills per $1,000 of value).  This means the $3.185 million in fees waived will be recouped from the increased property tax revenues in less than four years.

AGAINST MORATORIUM: This $82 million figure is fundamentally flawed. As the graphic (top of page) indicates, 40% of the projects (green) used to get that number never would have had to pay a mobility fee, so why would their job costs be used in a case for waiving a fee they never had to pay?

Nevertheless, in February 2013, that $3.19 million in waived fees had increased to $4.77 million as remaining mobility fee waiver eligible projects move forward (which directly impacts the “after” waiver number mentioned in point 4).  However, as the response to point 5 highlights, there is strong reason to believe that many of the projects receiving waivers over the last year would have moved forward even if a mobility fee were in place. Especially since 36% of the $4.8 million waived went to 7-Eleven (see #5). As of March 1, 2013, the $4.8 million in mobility fees waived had increased to $5 million.