Hiruy Hadgu

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Three Things to Know About the School Surcharge Fee Legislation

The County Uses Understated Numbers to Estimate Growth

The county’s budget has a deficit because county leaders are using very understated numbers to determine school surcharge fees.

1. New units has averaged close to 1600 year-over-year for the past decade. One council member claimed it was 1,200 per year for the past decade.

2. This year it’s pacing to be 1640. The county’s official numbers as close to 1500 as of July 2019.

3. A total of 14,000 units have come online since 2010. Equivalent to over $500 million in uncollected school surcharge fees, equivalent to the HCPSS deferred maintenance.

New Homes Contribute at least 60% to Annual School Enrollment

The county assumes new homes contribute only 42% of school enrollment, annually. This is very understated.

In 2019, the number of student enrollments increased by a total of 1123. In 2018, total new home construction from single family attached, detached, and apartments was 2283.

Using the 2018 student yield numbers for the three home times it is possible to calculate the new home contribution to the annual enrollment.

These numbers give 684 new students due to new home construction. That is around 60%. NOT 42%.

Six Amendments =Six Corporate Giveaways

Amendments for CB42-2019 to raise Howard County’s school facilities surcharge fees are posted.

This is the most glaring and bold example of developer subsidy this year. It is right out of the developers playbook.

Amendments 1 to 3 are by Councilpersons Rigby and Jung. Taken together they could the potential revenue by up to $230 million over 10 years.

Amendment 4 is by Councilperson Jones. I call this one the “Howard Hughes Kickback”. It would give just one developer nearly $10 million over ten years.

Amendment 5 and 6 are by Councilperson Yungmann. It’s the most devastating. It can reduce revenues by up to $460 million. Section 2 of Amendment 6, which defines the projects that are grandfathered covers a SIGNIFICANT number of projects in the development milestone. The calculation for the impact of this amendment reflects the level of ambiguity and uncertainty as to what it means after two years for all the grandfathered projects.