With Harford County's rain tax no more, a new approach to paying for stream restoration and stormwater remediation projects mandated by the state and federal governments was approved by the County Council Tuesday.
The council approved a resolution requested by Harford County Executive Barry Glassman to tap a portion of the existing property recordation tax for stormwater-related capital projects, just weeks after it had repealed, also at Glassman's request, a two-year-old stormwater remediation fee imposed on homeowners and commercial property owners.
The resolution designates 55 cents of the $3.30 recordation tax, which is collected for each $500 of consideration on real estate transaction instruments such as property deeds and mortgage refinances, for future stormwater projects.
The 55 cents was originally added to the recordation tax rate by a 1982 resolution designed to fix "a severe funding problem in the water and sewer system debt service," according to administration representatives, who told the council during a public hearing last month that the revenue being generated is no longer needed for that purpose.
Based on recent years' collections, future revenue from the tax is estimated at about $1.8 million annually, county administration spokesperson Cindy Mumby said last month.
Revenue generated from the recordation tax is highly dependent on the health of the county's residential and commercial development and construction markets.
While noting revenue has at times been as high as $4 million annually, when those markets were stronger, Mumby also said the recordation tax is not viewed by the administration as "the only solution" for funding Harford's stormwater remediation needs.