A bill aiming to increase the fee developers pay to offset school construction costs associated with the construction of new housing was introduced to the Harford County Council Tuesday night.

Currently, anyone applying for a permit to build a new residential structure in Harford County is obligated to pay a one-time fee called an impact fee. Impact fees can only be used to fund school site acquisition, school construction or school renovations.

The revenue from these fees cannot be used to cover school operating expenses such as salaries for new teachers.

Impact fees were passed into county law in 2005 and charge developers:

$6,000 per single family detached unit
$4,200 per townhome/duplex
$1,200 for all other housing structures including apartment units and mobile homes

Harford County Executive Bob Cassilly has proposed new legislation to increase those fees to:

$10,000 per single family detached unit
$10,000 per townhome/duplex
$7,989 for all other housing structures including apartment units and mobile homes

The proposed impact fees for single family homes, townhomes and duplexes are the maximum allowed by state law.

In a news release last month, Cassilly said current fees are outdated and do not properly reflect modern construction costs.

He explained that last year the county’s impact fees generated $2.7 million in revenue while last year’s school capacity projects cost $6.8 million. He said the $4 million difference was made up by the county’s general revenue fund, which comes from taxpayer dollars.

“For too long Harford’s impact fees have failed to reflect the true cost of expanding school capacity, unfairly adding to the burden on taxpayers,” Cassilly stated in the release. “With this legislation, new home developers will begin to pay more of their fair share.”

Cassilly noted that since the county’s impact fees were set in 2005, school construction costs have risen by nearly 300%.

To avoid having to constantly adjust the impact fees to be in line with inflation, the proposed legislation would raise impact fees annually based on increases in the cost of school construction. Those increases are established by the Maryland Interagency Commission on School Construction.

According to 2023 enrollment data from Harford County Public Schools, 21 of the school system’s 33 elementary schools are either at, or over, 90% capacity. Of those 21, five are either at, or over, 100% capacity.

Middle and high schools in the county are not as challenged when it comes to capacity. Only one middle school in the county is over 90% capacity while the others range from 65% to 87%. None of the eight high schools in the county are over 90% capacity. High school capacity, according to the 2023 data, ranges from 67% to 87%.

Both combination schools in Harford County — school facilities that operate as both a high school and middle school — are just over 90% capacity with the Havre de Grace combination school at 91% and the Patterson Mill combination school at 92%.

School overcrowding is a statewide issue. However, of Maryland’s 23 counties and Baltimore City, only Anne Arundel, Calvert, Carroll, Frederick, Montgomery, Prince George’s, Queen Anne’s, St. Mary’s and Harford counties charge impact fees.

Fees are to be paid to the county upon submission of building permit applications. The revenue from impact fees, per the county website, is deposited into a separate account earmarked for school construction — not the general fund.

The county must spend impact fee revenue within eight years of the payment date. If the fee revenue goes unspent, property owners can request a refund from the county

New housing projects that are exempt from paying impact fees include housing for the elderly, continuing care communities, transient housing, housing for nonprofit organizations and redevelopment projects.

The Harford school system is engaged in a variety of capacity-expanding projects this year, including:

Construction at Homestead/Wakefield Elementary School
Renovations at Harford Technical High School

Also, relocatable, external classroom units are being added at:

Church Creek Elementary School – 1 unit
Riverside Elementary School – 1 unit
Magnolia Elementary School – 2 units
Emmorton Elementary School – 2 units

A public hearing on the impact fee legislation will be held Nov. 5 at 6:30 p.m. in the Harford County Council Chambers, 212 S. Bond St., Bel Air.

Got a news tip? Contact Matt Hubbard at mhubbard@baltsun.com, 443-651-0101 or @mthubb on X.