NNFD lawyer refutes challenge on impact fee uses

John Cardillo, of the law firm Cardillo, Keith and Bonaquist, is refuting claims brought by Naples attorney Richard Yovanovich, who is questioning Cardillo's interpretation about fire district-related impact fee expenditures.

Yovanovich represents the Collier Building Industry Association, a watchdog group for the construction industry, that wants answers about the district's use of taxpayer money from the impact fee account.

The CBIA is challenging Cardillo's legal opinion that backs the district's use of $300,000 to purchase 800-MHz emergency radios. The CBIA has asked for district public records that detail how and for what the department has used impact fees.

"With respect to the purchase of the 800-MHz radio system, the facts conveyed to us by our client, clearly support the use of impact fees to acquire the system," Cardillo wrote in an Oct. 14 letter to Yovanovich.

Money from impact fees is collected on all newly developed residential and commercial property.

Per Florida law, impact fees are to be used exclusively to pay for capital assets as a result of the growth within a city, township or municipality such as the North Naples Fire District.

Cardillo said impact fee money used for the radio system was permissible because Collier County had changed its emergency frequency. In order for the fire district to remain up to par with the emergency frequency used by the county, the "district needed to purchase the new system," Cardillo argued in his letter.

But Yovanovich and at least one local government watchdog disagree with Cardillo's legal interpretation of how much impact fee money was used to buy the radios in question.

"I don't agree that based on the fact that they converted from one radio system to another radio system is 100 percent related to growth, and therefore it is not appropriate to purchase the radio system with 100 percent of impact fees," Yovanovich said.

Earlier this year, Cardillo's law firm determined that the radio purchases from impact fee money were proper, though backup documentation and records detailing those acquisitions were scarce.

CBIA Executive Director David Ellis stressed that the intention behind the group's probe of fire district impact fee expenditures is to ensure "that the money that was collected for growth were for items that related to growth," he said.

"Obviously, our goal is to make sure that money was spent appropriately," Ellis said. "It's one thing to say (the purchases) are right but it's another to show they are appropriate."

Local watchdog Michael Lissack agreed with CBIA's assessment that money utilized from the impact fee fund is solely designated for purchases as a result of the growth in the district -- and not to replace an older radio system.

Lissack criticized the legal advice that Cardillo, for several years, has rendered the taxpayer-funded district.

"The district would be well-served to get a different attorney," Lissack said. "Cardillo is too caught up in the scandals of the past and has too large a role in their facilitation."

At the very least, Lissack said, Cardillo's legal opinion about the district-related use of impact fees for radios and other items should have involved a prorated formula.

"The purchases should have been prorated between the portion that is used to service existing construction and the portion used to service new construction," Lissack said. "I'm sure the notion of proration never occurred to Cardillo."

Ellis said he and the 19 CBIA directors, which includes Yovanovich, are eager to review those public records on impact fee expenditures. Once CBIA has had a chance to digest that information, Ellis said, the next step would be for both sides to meet and discuss the issue.

"We need to get together and hash through all of this," he said.

Cardillo said, "We're providing them all the documents they have requested. They can review them and discuss them. We'll see if there's any areas in agreement."

Yovanovich said that the questions surrounding the purchase of radios is one of a few questions CBIA is hoping to get answered.

For now, CBIA is focusing its efforts in probing and examining impact fee-related purchases at the North Naples Fire District.

"We don't have any plans at the moment to do the same kind of review at other districts," Ellis said. "If other things come out (from other districts) that are obvious inconsistencies, we will certainly look into them."