The only method school boards have to purchase land for new schools is in flux and the fallout could cost millions of dollars.
At a joint meeting, trustees with the Simcoe County District School Board and the Simcoe Muskoka Catholic District School Board passed a by-law to freezes rates at the current level charged to developers for one year rather than go with the proposed increase of nearly 300 per cent.
The boards hands were tied by a provincial government decision that ordered boards to freeze rates while it conducts a review of the process.
The EDC by-law had not been upated in five years and board officials say no one could have anticipated land costs to increase to the level they currently area.
Developers most often pass the cost of EDCs on to new homebuyers.
Jodi Lloyd, chair of the Simcoe County District School Board and trustee for Orillia, Ramara and Severn, says freezing EDCs will cost the board at least $13 million,.
The cost to the Catholic board is about $5 million.
Lloyd says the public board is looking to purchase land within the next year for five elementary schools in Wasaga Beach, Oro-Medonte and three properties in the south end of the County.
While developers may like the fact they are not going to take a financial bath, Lloyd warns that depending on what the provincial government puts in place , there could be significant increases a year from now, probably much greater than the 300% that had been proposed.
