Indian River County Impact Fee Study Final Report - irccdd.com

Cost Component
Cost per Student Station
In determining the cost of providing public school facilities in IRC, the first step is to
calculate the facility cost per student station. Several cost components must be
considered when calculating the total cost of constructing a school facility. These cost
components include construction costs, design and engineering costs associated with
construction, public utility connection costs, furniture, fixtures, and equipment (FF&E)
costs, and the cost of land. The weighted average construction cost per square foot for
each of type of school is developed based on these cost components.
School Facility Costs
In order to determine the cost per square foot to construct elementary, middle, and high
schools in IRC, the recommended construction cost per student station for each school
type by the Florida Department of Education (DOE) is used. The DOE calculates the
typical construction cost per student station figures on a monthly basis, using the
Consumer Price Index (CPI). For calculation purposes, the DOE construction cost
figures for January 2005 are used. Because the DOE costs are inflated on a monthly
basis according to the CPI, these costs do not take into account the recent increase in
school facility costs that have occurred statewide, due to the 2004 hurricane season and
market fluctuations for building materials.
In addition to the actual cost of the school facility, design and engineering costs, public
utility connection costs, FF&E costs, and the cost of land are also determined for each
type of school by taking a percentage of the total construction cost per facility. The
various percentages used for each of these cost calculations are based on the costs of
recently constructed school facilities in IRC.
Land Costs
In addition to the cost of constructing the school facility, the cost of that land that the
school is constructed on must be considered. The land cost per student station for each
school type is determined by using a cost per acre figure of $34,136, which is based on
recent sales of vacant parcels in IRC of 40 to 130 acres, as shown in Appendix B, Table
B-2. The cost of land per square foot by school type is determined by multiplying the
$34,136 per acre by the typical number of acres purchased for each type of school by the
School District, which is 20 acres per elementary school, 40 acres per middle school, and
80 acres per high school and dividing by the typical square footage of a elementary,
middle, and high school in IRC. The cost of land per square foot is then added to the
total facility cost per square foot by school type.
Tindale-Oliver & Associates, Inc.
Indian River County
May 2005 IX-6 Impact Fee Study