When the Jacksonville Business Journal takes four minutes to explain what’s happening with impact fees in Nassau County, it validates months of concerns raised by NassauFLDOGE: this is not a routine policy adjustment — it’s a major shift with real consequences, and county leadership appears unmoved by the fallout.
The headline facts are stark. Nassau County commissioners approved a phased plan to nearly double impact fees on new homes, invoking “extraordinary circumstances” to justify increases well beyond the 50% threshold allowed under Florida law. For homes over 3,000 square feet, fees jump from $3,721 to $8,529. That’s not trimming around the edges; it’s a wholesale reset of the cost of building in the county.
We have consistently warned that stacking fees without accountability — impact fees on top of rising mobility fees, on top of school impact fees, on top of escalating property taxes — creates a hostile environment for working families, builders, and employers. The JBJ article makes clear this isn’t theoretical. Developers are already “bracing for trouble,” and industry groups openly dispute the county’s claim that Nassau faces anything “extraordinary” compared to other fast-growing Florida counties.
What’s especially troubling is the disconnect. County staff argue that ignoring infrastructure demand would deter projects and job creation — yet developers say the fee structure itself will deter projects and job creation. Residents are told this will protect them from higher property taxes, even as overall housing costs rise and affordability slips further out of reach. Meanwhile, the county presses forward, largely indifferent to whether the math actually works in the real economy.
Our position has been simple and consistent: growth should pay for growth — but only when the numbers are honest, proportional, and transparent. Declaring “extraordinary circumstances” shouldn’t be a convenience clause to fast-track massive increases without clear proof, peer comparisons, or a demonstrated commitment to spending discipline.
The Jacksonville Business Journal didn’t editorialize — it didn’t need to. The facts speak for themselves. Nassau County is choosing higher fees, faster, while brushing aside legitimate concerns from builders and employers who actually create the tax base the county depends on.
DOGE will continue to ask the questions county leadership won’t answer:
- Where is the detailed, project-by-project justification for these increases?
- Why are peer counties managing growth without declaring emergencies?
- And at what point does “planning for growth” become pricing people out of Nassau County altogether?
This is a big deal. Pretending otherwise doesn’t make the consequences go away — it just turns public policy into a loud “Bah, humbug.”
