At a work session held this afternoon, it was apparent that the suggestion by Councilmen Culver and Joe Holloway to reduce or suspend that County’s “impact fee” on new homes is a dead duck with the current Council majority. Led by Stevie Prettyman, the majority was not receptive to even a partial reduction.
Instead, it sounds like they favor the proposal by the Pollitt administration to subsidize the impact fee by using county funds to give “grants” to cover the fee, although the precise details were not decided upon at the work session. However, it appears that to offset the heavy burden put on the construction and sale of new homes, the tax will be paid by the general public in FY 2015, but it may require that Mr. Pollitt’s proposed budget must be revised for that purpose.
Other counties and many towns, including Salisbury and Fruitland, have already reduced their impact fees or imposed a complete moratorium, and Dorchester County is in the process of deciding whether to suspend its excise tax on development. If it does, none of the surrounding counties will have any special charge on development.
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I have shelved my plans to build a new home on the water in Wicomico County. They won't be getting any fees from me because I am actively looking at properties in VA/NC/FL. Another smart business decision by the elected leaders. Chase off the money. Might have built a new home on the property and the property taxes would have tripled. More money for the County, but now I'll leave the older home there and build a new home in a friendlier state.
ReplyDeleteNorth Carolina is fantastic.
ReplyDeleteThe RINO's hosed the citizens once again....
ReplyDeleteNovember's coming - hopefully the council house will have a fall cleanout!
All I can say that "There are a lot of mega houses for sale......ALOT!
ReplyDeleteTime to retire Rino's and Dems. Cut them loose to do their dastardly deeds elsewhere.
ReplyDeleteDelaware is builder friendly, and they don't have a 9% tax on beer.
ReplyDeleteFor pete's and our sake -- vote for Bob Culver and Joe Holloway!
ReplyDeleteThank goodness that pretty soon Prettyman will be a full time Florida resident.
ReplyDeleteLet's hope we can can Matt Holloway, reelect Joe Holloway and elect Bob Culver in November.
On tonight's agenda in Dorchester County:
ReplyDeleteAN ACT OF THE COUNTY COUNCIL OF DORCHESTER COUNTY, MARYLAND PURSUANT TO ARTICLE 24, SECTION 9-1002 OF THE ANNOTATED CODE OF MARYLAND
ADDING NEW SECTION 144-37 TO CHAPTER 144, ENTITLED TAXATION, ARTICLE X, ENTITLED BUILDING EXCISE TAX TO THE DORCHESTER COUNTY CODE
TO PROVIDE THAT THE BUILDING EXCISE TAX IS SUSPENDED FOR A PERIOD OF TWO YEARS COMMENCING ON JULY 1, 2014 AND ENDING ON JUNE 30, 2016
AND TO PROVIDE THAT THE BUILDING
EXCISE TAX DOES NOT APPLY TO BUILDING PERMITS FILED BETWEEN JULY 1, 2014 AND JUNE 30, 2016.
Someone who was at the meeting said that it could mean another $250,000 to $500,000 raid on the County's reserve fund. Thanks Ricky and Stevie!
ReplyDeleteInteresting that Pollitt doesn't want to use a much lower amount in a reserve fund to reduce the sports fees, bur is OK with this outrageous insult to Wicomico County residents.
ReplyDeleteInquiring minds want to know:
ReplyDeleteHow do the other at large candidates - Boda, Mitchell and Cannon feel about this tax and Rick Pollitt's proposal to shift it to the general taxpayers. We now know that Matt Holloway supports Pollitt on this (and most other things).
Oh well, I thought about building new home on my Land in WICOMICO. Nevermind, now I Will be lookiing in DE and VA. Will not be spending a dime while these business killing crooks are in charge.
ReplyDeleteLaura Mitchell is a Democrat and Muir Boda is a Libertarian playing the role of a "Republican" for this election.
ReplyDeleteHow did Gail Bartkovich vote on this?
I met Mr Boda and he is definitely a conservative especially when it comes to taxes and spending. He has our support.
DeleteFruitland taxpayer
Wicomico County Executive and Wicomico County Council
ReplyDeleteDo not vote for:
Rick Pollitt
Laura Mitchell
Matt Holloway
Ernie Davis
Kirby Travers
Josh Hasting
John Hall
Ron Pagano
Please Vote for:
Bob Culver
Bob Cannon
Marc Kilmer
Larry Dodd
Joe Holloway
Anonymous said...
ReplyDeleteI met Mr Boda and he is definitely a conservative especially when it comes to taxes and spending. He has our support.
Fruitland taxpayer
May 21, 2014 at 11:18 AM
Thanks Muir!
If you look, there were only 2 new house building permits issued, so the loss of the impact fee is miniscule in relation to the increase in yearly tax revenue that would be generated if permits went to 50.
ReplyDeleteBut no, and let's keep the parking meters up to chase people out to the malls instead of generating more tax revenue.
We got this... y'all just stfu...