A proposed bill to permit county governments to collect local recordation fees and taxes could bring Carroll an additional $400,000, Sen. Larry E. Haines told the county commissioners yesterday.
Such taxes and fees are collected for counties by the Clerk of the Circuit Court -- a state employee -- when developers register their plats with the land record office, Sen. Haines said.
State officials then charge a 5 percent processing fee before giving the money to local officials, he said.
Under the Haines proposal, the clerk would continue to collect state transfer taxes, which are used to pay for the Project Open Space and Agricultural Preservation programs.
"I think this is good legislation," Sen. Haines said. "In a county like Carroll, the finance director is already equipped to collect his own fees. There would not be an additional cost to the county."
The proposal would permit smaller counties without a finance office to continue collecting taxes through the state, he said.
Senator Haines said he pre-filed the statewide bill on Nov. 23. The bill is similar to one he submitted during the 1993 legislative session. That bill passed both houses of the General Assembly, but was vetoed by Gov. William Donald Schaefer, he said.
"I'm going back with it in 1995 because I don't feel the new governor will veto it," Senator Haines said. Both gubernatorial candidates expressed support for it, he said.
Each county sets its own recordation fees and transfer taxes, Senator Haines said. In Carroll, developers are charged a recordation fee -- called a documentary stamp -- of $6.60 per $1,000 of value when a plat is registered, Senator Haines said.
Carroll does not have its own transfer tax, he said. The state transfer tax is $5 for each $1,000 of value, Senator Haines said.
Traditionally, circuit court clerks have collected local transfer taxes and recordation fees because they handle the documents necessary to record plats, said William S. Ratchford II, director of the General Assembly's Department of Fiscal Services.
"The clerk won't record them if the taxes are not paid," he said. "The person goes to one office to pay the recordation fees and taxes as well as the state transfer tax.
"Under the change, the person would have to go to the county offices, pay the recordation tax, get a receipt and take it to the clerk of the court."