Reply to Are there estimates now as to how state's Blueprint for the Future will affect available space at MCPS schools?

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Reply to "Are there estimates now as to how state's Blueprint for the Future will affect available space at MCPS schools?"

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[quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous]The plan is to allow multi unit dwellings throughout most of MoCo, goodbye single family housing in the name of "attainable" housing.  This means in most area there is potential for duplexes, triplexes, quads, and near transit corridors small apartment type buildings.  This will really stretch resources, hello overcrowding at schools.  [/quote]

They are proposing 40-50 percent fee cuts and a number of new exemptions. It doesn’t look like a lot of money in a single year based on recent housing production (which has been minimal) but if you add it up over the four years the law will be in place and add debt service costs it means either massive cuts to other parts of the budget or big tax increases. Planning claims the multi unit dwellings will pay fees but the fees won’t be enough to pay for the new demands on schools or roads. This is all so developers can get a tax cut and have higher profits.

MCPS only has two dedicated revenue sources to add school capacity (the other is the recordation tax, which was recently increased) so you think they’d say something about getting their funding cut but neither the sitting school board members nor the challengers have said a word. [/quote]

The impact fees in Montgomery County are outrageous. It costs $50-60k to build a new SFH or townhome in MoCo. We didn't expect people to pay that in the 50s and 60s.

It's a terrible policy. You tax things you want to discourage. We shouldn't discourage creating more housing.[/quote]

No, you tax things to raise revenue. Taxes aren’t punishments. Their primary purpose is funding the government. Every household will have to pay for these tax cuts. Under your logic, the county wants to discourage households.

Taxes can be punitive, and that’s what MoCo has done upcounty, which is the only place where the fees you quoted apply. That’s by design because the county wants to discourage SFHs. They’re around $8k for an apartment or condo downcounty and even less than that in Wheaton and Silver Spring.

As a percentage of the median home sales price, MoCo’s fees are not terribly out of line with what other jurisdictions like Austin charge, and Austin has been very successful in adding housing. MoCo has cut impact fees several times since 2016 and it has had no measurable impact on production. The extent to which impact fees discourage housing is a thing you say not a thing that is true.

What is true is that the fee reductions have helped developers make more money, and now the council president wants to take even more money from schools and give it to developers. [/quote]

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