The Carroll County commissioners have taken a step toward raising the impact fee and will ask residents for their opinions on the issue at a hearing Friday.
"We've reached the point where we need to generate some revenues," Commissioner Donald I. Dell said.
"The dilemma we face is there are huge capital needs in Carroll County," Commissioner W. Benjamin Brown said.
The commissioners have proposed increasing the impact fee that builders are charged on new construction by about $2,000 in most areas of the county.
The public hearing is scheduled for 7 p.m. in the auditorium at Westminster High School, 1225 Washington Road.
The fee increase technically went into effect Friday -- the day the public hearing was advertised -- "to prevent a mad rush" of builders applying for permits, which has happened in the past when increases were discussed, Mr. Brown said.
If the commissioners do not vote to increase the fee, anyone who paid the higher amount will receive a refund, he said.
The fees help pay for schools, parks and water resources to accommodate growth. Builders generally pass the cost along to buyers.
Even if the impact fee is increased, the county still might need more money to build schools and repair roads and for other projects, Mr. Brown said. The fee raises about $3 million a year.
County departments have asked for $72 million in capital projects for the next fiscal year, including two new schools. Budget Director Steven D. Powell said the county can afford to spend about $50 million.
Commissioners Brown and Dell acknowledged when they took office in December that they might have to raise taxes to pay for the projects. Commissioner Richard T. Yates has said that he hasn't considered a tax increase.
Mr. Brown said Friday that the commissioners would look for the fairest way to increase taxes if needed.
"We do not want to hurt people on fixed incomes," he said.
Carroll has not raised its property tax rate -- $2.35 for each $100 LTC in assessed value -- since 1990 and has not increased its state piggyback tax -- now 50 percent -- since 1967.
The current impact fee is $2,700 for a single-family home in all areas except Mount Airy and Sykesville, where it is $3,500. The county charges an extra fee in South Carroll to pay for reservoirs.
The proposed increase, to $4,755 in all areas, would spread across the whole county the cost of building reservoirs and protecting the water supply.
Dell questions fairness
The commissioners voted 2-1 Feb. 1 to sponsor a public hearing on the issue, Mr. Dell said. He said he voted against it because he does not consider it fair to charge a water-resource fee in all areas of Carroll.
Residents who live in agriculturally zoned areas must pay to have a well dug and septic system installed and should not have to pay a water-resource fee, too, he said.
During his first term, Mr. Dell voted against sponsoring a hearing on increasing the impact fee. The commissioners have been considering an increase for about 2 1/2 years.
Unchanged since 1989
The fee has not changed since being instituted in May 1989.
The county never has charged the maximum amount it could justify based on a formula developed in 1992 by a Montgomery County consulting firm, Tischler and Associates.
The formula uses various information, such as the county's acreage, population and standards for levels of service, to arrive at a fee.
Based on the formula, the maximum the county could charge is $5,005 for a single-family home.
Mr. Dell would not say whether he would vote to increase the impact fee. He said he would make a decision after hearing residents' comments at the public hearing.
Mr. Brown said during his fall campaign that he would push to increase the impact fee. Mr. Yates was out of town yesterday and Friday and could not be reached for comment.
Builders opposed instituting the fee and have spoken out against raising it.