SARASOTA COUNTY — In a decision directed toward easing the currently stressed economy, the Sarasota County School Board unanimously agreed this week to recommend an extension of the existing moratorium on educational system impact fees to the County Commission for two more years, to Dec. 1, 2014.

Impact fees are a financing mechanism intended to ensure that builders constructing new developments or retail centers specifically causing increased needs for infrastructure and facilities must be directly responsible for their costs. As more businesses and residents move into a developed area, impact fees help fund the schools, roads, fire stations, sewers and parks, for example, required to accommodate that growth.