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The Ave Maria development has had a significant positive fiscal impact on Collier County, according to an independent report submitted Monday to the county.
The Ave Maria Stewardship Receiving Area (SRA), which was formed in June, 2005, was required by the county's land development code to provide an economic assessment demonstrating "fiscal neutrality" of the development after five years.
The report, prepared by the Orlando firm of Fishkind and Associates, examined what the fiscal impact has been on three areas: the county, the Collier County School District, and the Immokalee Fire Control District. It concluded that there has been a positive impact on each area, with a cumulative impact of millions of dollars as well as a positive operating impact of hundreds of thousands of dollars per year. The developers would have been required to make up a negative impact, if there were any.
A letter accompanying the report said that the consultants had been working with the county on the impact analysis for several months and that to assess the entire five-year period, some of the analysis had to wait for up-to-date data available after the five-year anniversary of the SRA's approval on June 14, 2010.
The analysis determined that the net positive impact to the county was more than $11 million, with almost $400,000 annually in net positive operating impact. The net capital impact to the Collier County School District was calculated to be more than $4 million and the impact on the Immokalee Fire Control District was determined to be neutral with respect to capital costs while generating an annual positive operating impact of $476,000.
Click here for a copy of the report, and here for a copy of the letter accompanying its submission (both in PDF format). |
