What's up with the extra fee at One Daytona, Tanger and The Pavilion? We've got answers.

DAYTONA BEACH − Nancy Sack was thrilled at the deal she recently got at the Guitar Center store at One Daytona when she bought a starter acoustic guitar for only $54.

She didn't realize her purchase included a 1% "Enhanced Amenity Fee."

"Can't beat the price," the Daytona Beach resident said as she returned to the musical instrument store for a guitar lesson on Thursday. "I didn't notice the fee," she said adding that it doesn't bother her.

Not everyone shares her view.

While most customers don't notice the "EAF" charge that appears on their receipts, Brooke Kells, the manager/buyer at the Pink Narcissus women's resort wear shop at One Daytona, said those that do, "don't like it. They don't understand it."

Where else is the fee charged?

One Daytona is one of at least three shopping centers in the Volusia-Flagler area where shoppers are charged a small extra fee under different, but similar names.

At One Daytona, the extra fee is called an "EAF." At the Tanger Outlets mall in Daytona Beach, customers are charged a 0.65% "Public Utilities Fee" that appears on receipts as a "PUF Fee." At The Pavilion at Port Orange shopping center, the extra 1% fee is called a "Public Infrastructure Fee" or PIF.

What's it for?

At The Pavilion, a "Did You Know" sign states that the Public Infrastructure Fee funds infrastructure improvements such as new roads and storm water facilities "that benefit the Port Orange community."

The sign adds that, "The City of Port Orange does not collect the Public Infrastructure Fee." What it doesn't explain is that the aforementioned improvements were only made within The Pavilion and that the money collected goes back to the shopping center's owner CBL & Associates Properties, which developed the complex in 2010.

At Tanger, there are no signs visible explaining the "Public Utilities Fee." However, the fee, like those at One Daytona and The Pavilion, is also not collected by the City, but rather the shopping center's owner. In the case of Tanger, its owner is Tanger Factory Outlets Inc., which developed the mall on the southeast side of the Interstate 95/LPGA Boulevard interchange in 2016.

At One Daytona, the NASCAR-owned entertainment/retail center across from Daytona International Speedway, "The EAF is reinvested for continual improvements to the center," said One Daytona President Roxanne Ribakoff in a brief written statement.

Kells said she explains to her customers that the EAF is "exactly what it stands for an Enhanced Amenity Fee. One Daytona is a beautiful area. They upkeep it great. There's an area with fountains and chairs, they sometimes have concerts there in the summer and different events so kids can run around. ... So much goes into maintaining the buildings and areas. So that is quite an expense."

Why isn't the new Costco going to charge the fee?

Ribakoff in an interview with The Daytona Beach News-Journal announced that the new Costco Wholesale store that's set to open at One Daytona on Feb. 22 will not charge the enhanced amenity fee. It will be the first store at the center to not do so.

The reason: Costco has agreed to maintain and make any necessary repairs to its standalone store and members-only gas station.

Is the extra fee a tax?

Enhanced amenity/public utilities/public infrastructure fees are "privately imposed" and therefore not considered a tax, explained Cobb Cole Law Firm attorney Mark Watts in a 2018 interview with The News-Journal.

"You can't have a tax if there is not government action," he said.

Must they disclose how the money is used?

Because they are privately imposed, no state or local agency keeps tabs on the fees.

But didn't taxpayers help fund One Daytona?

Yes, they most certainly did. The City of Daytona Beach and Volusia County agreed to each contribute $20 million to help pay for infrastructure improvements at One Daytona. The combined $40 million in taxpayer money was characterized at the time as an incentive to redevelop the aging and under-utilized former General Electric property into a new shopping/dining/entertainment attraction that could boost the local economy and create thousands of jobs.

Those funds were to supplement the more than $100 million that NASCAR wound up investing of its own money to develop the initial phase of One Daytona as well as revamp the adjoining Shoppes at One Daytona.

Craig Neeb, a then-NASCAR executive vice president who has since retired, told The News-Journal in 2018: "The quality of the tenants and the property required both the City and County investments as well as the (Enhanced Amenity Fee) to bring the center to market (and for) project enhancements."

Some remain unconvinced

Local blogger Mark Barker in a 2018 interview sharply criticized the charging of Enhanced Amenity Fees at One Daytona. "My God, when will we ever finish paying for this? I don't think there is any justification for adding the fee to the products and services, given that we have underwritten this to the tune of $40 million in public funds."

Asked about it on Thursday, Barker said he has not changed his stance.

He did, however, admit he has made purchases at the Bass Pro Shoppes at One Daytona. He and his wife also dined once at the center's P.F. Chang's restaurant.

"I think it is a cheap fee grab. Essentially, they charge it because they can," said Barker. "It's legal, but it skews the playing field when one private for-profit business can charge the amenity fee, but your mom-and-pop businesses can't.

"I've talked to a lot of locals who've told me they'll never shop there because of the amenity fee."

Barker said he and his wife for the most part avoid going to One Daytona. "We subsidized that complex, and by we I mean the taxpayers of Volusia County."

"It's no reflection on the merchants there," he added.

Barker said he was pleased that at least Costco won't be charging the enhanced amenity fee. "My hat's off to them for that," he said.

This article originally appeared on The Daytona Beach News-Journal: What's up with the extra fee at One Daytona, Tanger and The Pavilion?