Law Lifts Cap on Howard County Developer Fees to Support School Construction Costs

Legislation introduced by the Howard County Delegation and passed by the General Assembly in their 2019 Session authorizes the Howard County Council to raise the County’s school facilities surcharge.

Under a new law passed by the General Assembly,

Beginning in fiscal 2020, the Howard County school facilities surcharge imposed on residential new construction is an amount

  1. equal to or greater than the amount imposed by the county council on June 30, 2019, per square foot of occupiable area in the residential new construction and
  2. equal to the amount imposed by the county council on June 30, 2019, per square foot of occupiable area in the residential new construction that is classified as senior housing under 42 U.S.C. § 3607(b).

The county council is prohibited from imposing a school facilities surcharge on residential new construction that is classified as senior housing and an affordable housing unit in Downtown Columbia, as defined in § 28.116 of the county code. –Maryland Department of Legislative Services Fiscal and Policy Note

The Council has not yet enacted a law to change the fee. Currently, the fee is set according to a basis of $1.00 per square foot of occupiable area in fiscal 2005, adjusted for inflation annually. The fiscal year 2019 budget for the county assumed a fee of $1.32 per square foot, according to the Maryland Department of Legislative Services.

For more information about the fees that counties charge for new development, see these Department of Legislative Services resources:

Also see MACo’s Survey Fees and Charges survey. Montgomery County’s impact fees, listed in MACo’s survey as “regional rates,” depend on the part of the County in which development is located.  The County is broken into 4 areas: see map and see rates for different areas.