Fees

City officials plan to raise fees for docking boats in Baltimore's Inner Harbor in hopes of generating about $35,000 in added revenue. With that money, officials say, they could reduce the amount that taxpayers spend to operate the city-owned docks. Barry Robinson, the city's head of transit and marine services, said officials are working to make the program self-sufficient. "This is the first step in that direction," he said. The Board of Estimates is expected to approve increases to the Inner Harbor docking fees Wednesday.

Anne Arundel County's stormwater fee hasn't been collected yet, but the County Council has already changed it. By a 7-0 vote Monday night, council members agreed to reduce the maximum fee that commercial property owners would pay and to phase in the fee for some property owners. The changes were made to make the stormwater fee more palatable to County Executive Laura Neuman, who vetoed the stormwater fee that the council passed earlier this spring. Owners of nonresidential properties still must pay based on the percentage of their lot that's covered by impervious surfaces such as parking lots and rooftops.

Nicole Stall boarded the first plane to Maryland she could catch when she heard of Benjamin Boniface's death last June. She was there to grieve the death of a boy she had known since his birth. But also to work. In the days after the 20-year-old's death in an early-morning car accident on the farm, she went to the barns where she had fallen in love with horses as a teenager. “I was completely out of it,” said William K. Boniface, known to most as Billy. “She just went out to the stallion barn, kept it running.

As you shop for airfare for your summer vacation, don't overlook the cost of fees for bags or changing a reservation that can add quite a bit to your travel bill. Airlines collected a record $6.1 billion last year in these fees, according to the Bureau of Transportation Statistics. That could be because fees are rising as well as more people are flying, said George Hobica, founder of Airfarewatchdog.com, which publishes a list of airline charges. Fees continue to rise this year, with some airlines recently increasing the cost to change a reservation from $150 to $200.

If Gov. Martin O'Malley refuses to veto the bloated taxes and fees legislation, it will prove that Maryland has become the kind of tyrannical government our Founding Fathers escaped to America to avoid. We came to America to be free, not to be taxed to death. Ken J. Bower, Edgewood

Funny how Gov. Martin O'Malley used an anti-fee campaign to defeat Robert L. Ehrlich Jr. — only to see his Democratic allies in the House of Delegates steamroll the state into more fees than ever before. This proves that the governor and the Democrats in the 2011 General Assembly don't care about overburdened Marylanders or feel the pain these high fees would cause. These fees were not "tough choices. " Raising fees was the stupidest onslaught against Maryland citizens in the history of the state.

The Baltimore County Council could vote next week to reduce fees that developers pay to help the county build parks and buy recreational land. A council resolution would lower — in some cases by nearly 90 percent — so-called open-space waiver fees. A vote is set for May 23. Under county law, developers must set aside land for recreation or open space when they build housing developments. But since 2000, the county has allowed developers to pay cash into a fund instead of preserving land, if approved by the county's director of parks and recreation.

A city councilwoman is challenging Baltimore's plan to charge businesses some of the highest stormwater fees in the state - and divert some of the money that had gone to Chesapeake Bay cleanup to help fund property tax cuts. Councilwoman Mary Pat Clarke says the Rawlings-Blake administration's stormwater plan would create a financial hardship for many local businesses. And Clarke and environmental groups object to raising revenue intended for pollution abatement to help pay for property tax relief.

Re "Ehrlich pledges no new taxes if he is returned to Annapolis" (Aug. 26): If Robert L. Ehrlich Jr. is returned to office, maybe he should reduce the "fees" that he increased. Roger L. Kegley, Abingdon

How fitting to read about the extra fees charged from Ticketmaster just as my newspaper included a "code" to use when ordering tickets for Ringling Brothers Circus ("A chance to break free of Ticketmaster," Feb. 26). The code didn't work on their site so I called Ticketmaster. At first we thought the code wouldn't go into effect until Sunday but an agent double checked and said there was no such code. I then went back on the computer to the Ticketmaster site to see how much tickets would be without The Sun code.

Baltimore County officials gave proper notice of its meeting where residents could testify about a new stormwater fee, according to state panel that rules on open meeting complaints. In an opinion this week, the Open Meetings Compliance Board said county documentation shows it met legal requirements to advertise a County Council work session where the public could comment on the fee, as well as the legislative meeting where the council voted to adopt it. Both meetings were held in April.

The Baltimore County Council could vote next week to reduce fees that developers pay to help the county build parks and buy recreational land. A council resolution would lower — in some cases by nearly 90 percent — so-called open-space waiver fees. A vote is set for May 23. Under county law, developers must set aside land for recreation or open space when they build housing developments. But since 2000, the county has allowed developers to pay cash into a fund instead of preserving land, if approved by the county's director of parks and recreation.

Maryland's in-state undergraduates will pay a few hundred dollars more per semester this fall under a new tuition-and-fee plan approved Wednesday by the university system's Board of Regents. Out-of-state students will be hit a little harder, paying as much as $1,060 more, for example, at the University of Maryland, College Park. The plan marks the fourth year that tuition for resident undergraduates at most Maryland schools has gone up 3 percent — an increase characterized by university system officials as moderate and lower than many states.

City officials plan to raise fees for docking boats in Baltimore's Inner Harbor in hopes of generating about $35,000 in added revenue. With that money, officials say, they could reduce the amount that taxpayers spend to operate the city-owned docks. Barry Robinson, the city's head of transit and marine services, said officials are working to make the program self-sufficient. "This is the first step in that direction," he said. The Board of Estimates is expected to approve increases to the Inner Harbor docking fees Wednesday.

A Pikesville man has filed an Open Meetings Act violation complaint against the Baltimore County Council, alleging that citizens didn't get proper notice of a meeting where they could have testified about the county's new stormwater fee. The council voted 5-2 on April 15 to approve the fee, which they discussed at a work session the week before. County officials say they properly advertised that work session, where the council also discussed other bills. In his complaint to the state's Open Meetings Compliance Board, Ralph Jaffe said four people testified about the fee at the work session - a fact that he said indicates people didn't know about the meeting.

Maryland lawmakers are wringing a tax from the rain that falls from our roofs. It won't be long before Gov. Martin O'Malley and the General Assembly come up with a way to tax the rain that falls from our umbrellas ("Arundel council overrides stormwater veto," May 2). They can use the same criteria that they use for the roofs and the driveways. I can visualize the Maryland Raindrop Police running after us with their measuring tapes, assessing all parasols, umbrellas and large golf umbrellas.

Mandating a runoff fee that is the same for all homeowners in a jurisdiction is patently inequitable taxation ("Fees statewide proposed to cut runoff pollution," Mar. 3). There is no justification for charging the same amount for a large property in Mt. Washington or Roland Park and a small one in Pigtown that might have less than a tenth the area. No matter how small the fee, it is unjustly applied. It would make far more sense to make a minor addition to the property assessment worksheet and generate the needed revenue for runoff remediation through a calculation that bears some rational relationship to the size and physical characteristics of the properties producing runoff.

Reporter Annie Linskey is right to characterize the last-minute budget deal that allows Maryland auto dealers to double and triple the processing fees they charge buyers as "a giveaway to car dealers" ("Businesses see breaks from General Assembly," April 18). That giveaway will be a serious blow to Maryland consumers, however, because they will foot the bill for the $100 million windfall the fee hike brings to the state's car dealers next year. As our economy struggles to emerge from the worst recession of the last 70 years, many low- and moderate-income Marylanders are struggling to afford the cars they need to find jobs, obtain child care and travel to the places that offer products at affordable prices.

A city councilwoman is challenging Baltimore's plan to charge businesses some of the highest stormwater fees in the state - and divert some of the money that had gone to Chesapeake Bay cleanup to help fund property tax cuts. Councilwoman Mary Pat Clarke says the Rawlings-Blake administration's stormwater plan would create a financial hardship for many local businesses. And Clarke and environmental groups object to raising revenue intended for pollution abatement to help pay for property tax relief.

Comcast Corp. cable TV subscribers might have noticed a small new charge in their bills recently. After years of giving customers with "standard/expanded" basic cable service up to two digital TV adapters for free as part of the upgrade to all-digital broadcasting, the cable provider now is charging $1.99 a month per digital adapter. The new fees, being rolled out in each of Comcast's markets, took effect in March in the Baltimore area. The company, which declined to provide the number of subscribers affected, said it notified customers ahead of time of the decision and that pricing always has been subject to change.