FAIRFIELD — Developers working within the bounds of the Travis School District in Fairfield and Vacaville are paying significantly more to the school district now than they were at the start of 2022.
Fees charged to residential developers are nearly 11.2% more while fees charged to commercial developers are up nearly 18.2%.
The boost in the fees, charged per square foot for both residential and commercial development, helped the district absorb a one-time debt payment of $5.29 million while maintaining the integrity of the account that’s designated for the developer fees.
All of this was part and parcel of a report Thursday to the school board by Chief Business Officer Gabriel Moulaison, who presented both annual and five-year reports about developer fees and how they were spent.
The state requires school districts to spend developer fees solely for the purpose for which the fee was collected – the construction or reconstruction of school facilities.
All agencies collecting fees must make accounting information publicly available annually within 180 days from the end of the fiscal year, which is June 30 for public schools. Agencies are also required every five years to meet and make public findings concerning the fees for the prior five years.
The Travis district charges more than the baseline set by the state. It does so based on a yearly analysis of school facilities needs, which the district uses to justify where the fees are set for both residential and commercial projects. The most recent justification study done by the Travis district was dated May 10. The study prior to that was done in June 2020.
Fees that are collected from developers are placed in a separate account.
The fee starting May 10 went from $5.99 per square foot for residential projects and $0.66 for commercial projects to $6.66 per square foot for residential and $0.78 for commercial development.
Fees and interest from money collected during the 2021-22 school year totaled $4.3 million, the district reports. The ending balance June 30 for the developer fee account was $10.1 million, $1.5 million less than 2020-21 balance of $11.6 million. Spending from the account totaled $5.9 million last school year with much of that used to rent portable buildings for Cambridge Elementary, Foxboro Elementary, Vanden High and the Travis Education Center.
A project to add portable buildings to Cambridge and Foxboro was brought to a halt because Pacific Gas & Electric Co. needs to provide transformers for a new fire system and communication systems.
“This project has stalled until January,” Moulaison said. “It is all about backorders. . . . They don’t have them in stock.”
The district starting in 2016 expanded the footprint at Scandia Elementary and financed the project in part with $6.17 million in Certificates of Participation – a type of bond debt. The annual debt service was paid with developer fees. The district paid down the outstanding Certificates of Participations with a one-time payment in 2021-22 of $5.29 million from the developer fee account while maintaining a developer fees account balance of more than $10 million.
Moulaison said new buildings cost significantly more than the cost of portable buildings. The district does not have the money available to build permanent classrooms and related school structures, he said.
The presentation rolled into an overview of the unaudited financial report.
Travis School District ended the year June 30 with $15.5 million in various funds: $11.1 million in unrestricted funds and roughly $4 million in restricted funds. Unrestricted money may be spent as necessary for such things as emergencies or inventory issues. Money that’s restricted may only be spent for its stated purpose.
“We had a lot of one-time funds coming in from the state and plan to use those funds slowly over the next few years,” Moulaison said.
There was a net deficit of $195,000 in unrestricted funds for 2021-22, but the restricted funds added $1.2 million.
“We still have $1.7 million more than expected,” Moulaison said.
The district overall has a healthy fund balance moving forward, he said.
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