The price of a new home may be going up in Lake County. Tuesday, commissioners voted to triple impact fees charged to builder to help pay for new schools.

All over South Lake County you’ll find new homes under construction and land being cleared for new developments.

But that isn’t necessarily the case in the northern part of the county. That’s why there is such a lively debate among school and county leaders about raising the fees builders, and ultimately homebuyers, pay on new homes.

“It’s going to hurt Eustis, it’s going to hurt Tavares, it’s going to hurt Umatilla, it’s going to hurt Leesburg,” Lake County Commissioner Leslie Campione said of the 300 percent increase.

Impact fees were suspended the past three years because of the recession. This year, the fees were brought back at 25 percent of what a study said would be needed to build new schools to keep up with growth. That’s just over $2,500 per new home.

School board member Rosanne Brandeburg said the district still owes $366 million on schools built after the first building boom. Without the fees for new schools, the district might be forced to consider more drastic alternatives.

“Going to year-round schools will make a lot of people unhappy, so that is something we don’t want to do,” Brandeburg said.

A committee made up of builders, school representatives, economists and others recommended doubling the fee to just over $5,000.

"If there’s too much of an exorbitant fee, that will impact the amount of building that is done,” Capital Facilities Advisory Committee Chairman Bill Benham said.

But in the end, commissioners decided to triple the fee to just over $7,700, against Campione's objections.

“It’s a bad idea," Campione said. "You don’t thread the needle. You tip scales against the economy, against jobs.”

They also asked the school board to hire a consultant to explore the options of creating zones within the county, which could be charged different amounts based on growth.

They asked for the information before the new impact fees are set to go into effect in April. The fees could be lowered before then.