Howard County School Surcharge Fees are not Market Based
Hiruy Hadgu
It is no secret that Howard County Taxpayers have been subsidizing developer profits for many years.
Between 2014 and 2017, developers paid an average of 6.7 million dollars in annual school surcharge fees.
During the same time-frame, the county spent an average of 14 million dollars annually, on new school construction expenses.
This annual figure is expected to more than double to nearly 32 million dollars per-year over the next 10 years.
While developers pay $2,500 for an average new home construction, taxpayers cough-up $65,000 per student for the average new school construction.
I am proud to have been the only Howard County Council candidate for District 3 to demand for an increase in developer school surcharge fees.
As someone who is not accepting contributions from developers, I demanded that they pay their fair share.