Wicomico County Impact Fee Removal?

$5,200 is how much extra money contractors have to pay to build a private residence in Wicomico County, because of what’s called an “impact fee.”

Donnie Messick, Vice President of Messick Home Improvements says, “If it was eliminated that would help the business industry and help spur the economy and help make homes more affordable for individuals.”

Roughly ten years ago, the impact fee was created to pay off the debt acquired after building and repairing local schools.

Joe Holloway, Wicomico County Councilman for District 5 says, “You know you could have put a $10,000 fee on a home and the homes still would have gotten built, the economy was booming, but that’s all over now.”

Contractors have reportedly flocked to other counties like Sussex and Somerset, which don’t have the fees.

To try to bring construction back, last July, then county councilman Bob Culver issued 74 fee waivers; meaning 74 new homes constructed in the last five months.

That’s more than the number of homes built in the last two years in Wicomico County, according to Culver, who is now County Executive.

Bob Culver, Wicomico County Executive says, “Because of that, we have built ten million seven hundred thousand dollars worth of new construction in Wicomico County. That will increase our tax base by over one hundred thousand dollars.”

Culver believes that if the county council approves lifting the impact fee, the amount of money that would come in through property taxes on newly built homes, an estimated $16,000 a year, would be enough to cover the local school debt.