Facilitron Introduces New Product: Facilitron DevFees™
LOS GATOS, Calif., June 18, 2024 /PRNewswire/ -- Continuing to innovate and expand the capabilities of its data-driven facility management platform, Facilitron has announced the launch of a new portal to streamline and transform the developer fee compliance process. Benefitting both developers and administrators, Facilitron DevFees™ promises enhanced efficiency, transparency and accessibility, minimizing wasted manual effort and ensuring timely and accurate fee collection and permitting.
Also known as impact fees, developer fees are one-time charges expensed to developers to help fund capital improvements associated with community growth. Though these fees often focus on funding infrastructure improvements such as roads or wastewater treatment, in some states schools also benefit from developer fees levied by governments on their behalf to finance the construction or renovation of school facilities required to meet education demands. These fees, which may be paid directly to the school districts themselves, are an important source of funding for school facilities.
Though districts must conduct periodic justification studies to receive the funding, Facilitron estimates that school districts in California alone could collect well over $2-billion in developer fees based on Level 1 mitigation rates for residential and commercial development in 2024.
The fee collection and permitting process itself, however, is exceedingly time-consuming and burdensome for both school districts and developers. School districts are required to staff an office with published hours of operation for receiving and processing applications, and developers, who may include do-it-yourself homeowners unfamiliar with the permitting process, must physically travel to this location at the appointed hours to submit an application and receive an estimate of cost. If a payment is not made upon receipt of the estimate, then the applicant may be required to return to the location at another time to make a payment.
Faced with these issues, California's 2nd largest school district and longtime partner for its facility rentals, San Diego Unified approached Facilitron about developing a new one-of-a-kind solution which would enhance the platform and revamp its school impact fee management.
"Initial reaction from both school district administrators and community developers has been very positive," says Facilitron CEO Jeff Benjamin. "Since our launch in January, we've already had hundreds of compliance certificates issued and over a thousand applications processed." Facilitron's easy-to-use online portal enables developers and administrators to more quickly and efficiently register development projects, collect fees and issue compliance certificates. Facilitron's solution allows developers to easily create and submit project details from anywhere by mobile phone or laptop. Facilitron's AI-powered application review analyzes project details and alerts applicants and administrators if any issues are detected with the submitted materials. Built-in tools accurately calculate fees based on uploaded specifications, and developers can securely pay fees online rather than in-person. Once fees are processed, administrators can verify and approve applications and instantly issue compliance and permitting documents.
"We now look forward to expanding this new product launch to schools and cities across the country," Benjamin continued. "We're also exploring how its capabilities can benefit fee management and collection in other industries."