FINKSBURG, Md. — With some new homes starting in the 800 thousands, a new fee on new single-family homes may not seem like that much, but it is to Lamotte Shipley, who is in the process of building his new home in Finksburg.
“$3,000 makes a difference, because there’s a lot of costs involved in building a house that have been mandated by new codes,” said Shipley.
Increased lumber requirements, sprinkler systems and mandatory dry wells for runoff have all ran up prices in recent years, but new homes bring new students into the public schools and the board of county commissioners has approved a new fee to help renovate and build new schools to meet that growth.
“Last year and this year the school have started to grow again and so we discussed, like they do every year, what amount do we set the school impact fee and we chose $3,000,” said Carroll County Commissioner Kenny Kiler.
The county hasn’t placed an impact fee on new homes since 2012 and at that time it was $6,300 or more than two times what it’s tacking on today.
Questions remain over why it’s only new construction, which will pay the fee.
“It would probably be better if it was split amongst all people, because this house could sell to a new family and then their kids go to school and they don’t pay for that,” said Shipley.
“I’m very much more pro user fees that the people building a new house pay this,” countered Kiler, “Not my mother or grandmother who pay taxes.”
The new fee on single-family construction will begin with permits sought starting September 1, with additional as yet undetermined fees to follow on newly-built town houses, duplexes and condos.
