Frequently Asked Questions

Impact Fees are one-time payments used to fund school capital improvements needed to accommodate new development. Impact Fees relate only to capital facility expenses benefiting new development and are not to be used to address existing deficiencies and/or operating expenses. Public School Impact Fees, authorized under Bill 05-21, as amended, became effective on July 1, 2005. Impact Fees were amended under Bill 09-37 which became effective December 4, 2009.

The impact fee for a Single Family detached home is $6,000. < br> The impact fee for a Townhouse / Duplex is $4,200, and all other residential (including mobile homes) is $1,200.

Anyone applying for a new residential structure for which a building permit is required, but does not include renovations, additions or modifications to an existing residential structure.

The Impact Fee is paid at the time of building permit application.

The new revenue may only be used for School Site Acquisition, School Construction, School Renovation, School Debt Reduction, or School Capital Expenses.

Bill 05-21, with amendments, exempts housing for the elderly, continuing care retirement communities (CCRC), transient housing, housing constructed by not for profit organizations and redevelopment, re-construction or replacement of an existing residential structure that results in no new housing units.

No you will not be charged an impact fee if you buy an existing home.

As new development will pay for a higher percentage of its own capacity-enhancing infrastructure needs, current funds that have been designated to pay for those projects may be shifted to the more immediate needs of existing residents, such as facility maintenance and rehabilitation.

Yes, School Impact Fee legislation applies to the incorporated towns of Bel Air, Aberdeen and Havre de Grace. Applications for residential building permits within the incorporated towns must be accompanied by a transmittal documenting that any required public school impact fee had been paid to the Harford County Treasurers Office.

No, changes are not in use or additions to existing houses charged in an Impact Fee.

An impact fee credit is appropriate since new residential units that pay School Impact Fees will also contribute to future principal payments through property taxes. These credits are calculated in the Impact Fee Study and cause a reduction in the maximum justifiable impact fee. The application of credits is important to ensure that new development does not pay twice for the same new capital facility.

No, impact fee revenues must be earmarked and deposited in a special dedicated fund/account.

Yes. Bill 05-21, as amended, stipulates that Development Impact Fees must be used within 8 years from the date of payment.

Assuming the County has failed to use/appropriate the Development Impact Fee within 8 years from its date of payment, the current property owner may request a refund.

Yes they did. Harford County contracted with Tischler and Associates, a nationally respected fiscal, economic and planning consulting firm that specializes in impact fees. The firm has assisted more than 500 jurisdictions in their efforts to develop impact fee programs. The planning and legal framework for establishing Impact Fees in Harford County was established through Tischler and Associates preparation of a School Impact Fee Study, which was completed and presented to the Harford County Council in December 2004. This study outlined key components necessary to justify re-establishment of School Impact Fees and included detailed discussions and analyses on fee methodologies, credits, maximum supportable impact fees, student generation rates, collection and expenditure zones, chronology of redistricting activity, inventories of public schools, local cost of public schools and school sites, vehicles and equipment, credit for future payments on school by projects, implementation and administration, and demographic and development projections.

During the 2004 Legislative Session, the Maryland General Assembly amended Article 24, Section 9-10 A-01 of the Annotated Code of Maryland by enacting the Harford County School Construction Act of 2004. In general, the Act provides enabling Legislation for the Harford County Council to fix, impose and collect by ordinance, a School Development Impact Fee not to exceed $10,000 for new construction or development.

The following jurisdictions also charge a School Impact Fee - Anne Arundel, Calvert, Carroll, Frederick, Montgomery, Prince Georges, Queen Anne's, and St. Mary's counties.