Impact Fees

Envisioned as an important new revenue stream when it was approved by the County Council last year, the impact fee is shaping up to be a dud. The money generated by the fee - collected when new homes are built - goes toward school construction, including the $60 million Patterson Mill middle and high school complex. Projections showed the fee, which is levied when building permits are obtained, generating as much as $11 million per year. But only about $2.8 million came in, according to figures released by the county government last week.

A one-time county attorney and a former top county administrator have been ordered to take no part in the multimillion-dollar legal fight over whether Anne Arundel County improperly used the impact fees imposed on new construction and whether refunds are due to property owners. The order, issued last week by the county's Ethics Commission, drew an angry response from the two, lawyer Phillip F. Scheibe and former planning chief Robert J. Dvorak. They contended the administration of County Executive Janet S. Owens has been trying to stall the case so that as much as $27 million in potential refunds would not be ordered during Owens' term in office.

The race is on again for homebuilding permits in Harford County. Homebuilders are beating a path to the Department of Planning and Zoning to obtain permits before a newly approved impact fee kicks in, county officials say. The rush started Wednesday morning, hours after the County Council approved a $6,000 fee on new single-family homes to help pay for school construction and renovation. For a townhouse or duplex, the fee is $4,200. For all other residential units, including mobile homes, the cost is $1,200.

After three months of deliberation, the Harford County Council approved legislation last night imposing an impact fee of $6,000 on new single-family homes to help pay for school construction. The council finally settled on the amount for the fee, which has been adjusted twice since it was introduced in March. Before approving the bill on a 5-2 vote, the council passed an amendment that would boost the fee by about 27 percent over the next two years, restoring it to the amount established in the original language.

Seeming more like a seesaw than legislation, the proposed impact fee on new homes in Harford could shift yet again. The County Council is scheduled to take up an amendment Tuesday to restore the proposed fee, intended to pay for school construction, to the amount in the original legislation. The bill was introduced in March and called for an $8,269 fee on the purchase of a new single-family home. The fee for a townhouse or duplex was $5,270, and $1,637 for all other residential units, including mobile homes.

County Executive James M. Harkins said he will offer an amendment to an impact fee bill he has submitted twice to the County Council that would reduce the fees by 25 percent. "It is clearly too high," Harkins said of the $8,269 charge to be paid by buyers of new single-family homes to help pay for the cost of construction and renovation of schools under proposed legislation being considered by the council. "I'm going to be sending an amendment to the council that will reduce it to about $6,200, Harkins said.

Tuesday is crunch time for Harford County's proposed legislation to impose an impact fee of up to $8,269 on new houses. The council needs to act on the measure by then or it automatically fails. The controversial legislation, which is designed to raise money for school construction and renovation, is strongly opposed by the construction industry and is a sore spot for some council members. In addition to the fee of $8,269 on a single-family house, the bill would allow for a fee of $5,270 on a townhouse or duplex and $1,637 for all other residential units, including mobile homes.

The Harford County Council delayed a vote last night on a bill that would impose an impact fee of up to $8,269 on a new home to pay for school construction. The delay was to allow time for reprinting of the bill with a series of amendments. In addition to the fee of $8,269 on a single-family home, the bill would allow for a fee of $5,270 on a townhouse or duplex and $1,637 for all other residential units, including mobile homes. During the session, the council approved an amendment that would have the fee paid at settlement, rather than when applying for a building permit.

In search of a semirural lifestyle and a good school for their growing family, Mark Hasegawa and his wife recently settled on Howard County to build a new house, unwittingly becoming part of a fierce dispute over who should pay the costs of sprawl that has engulfed the rapidly developing counties ringing Baltimore. The price tag on their $650,000 custom home on 2.5 acres in Highland included a $4,762 excise tax Howard County imposed on new homes last July 1 to help pay for new schools.

Last week's question asked: What are your thoughts on the fairness and effectiveness of imposing an impact fee on new housing as a way to help pay for school construction? Here are readers' views:While listening to the back and forth battle over building impact fees in Harford County, I couldn't help but notice the only people opposing the bill are those it would negatively affect -- namely real estate developers. For over a decade, real estate developers have made millions upon millions of dollars by destroying our farmlands, overpacking our schools and cluttering our roads.