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Tax
Revenue Resulting for Silver Fancy Development
Ed Smariga
Buckeye
Development LLC
It's
been claimed by the opponents of the Silver Fancy Development
that developments in general often use more town services, and
thereby cost more to towns, than the tax revenue they bring
in.
While
this can be true for poorly planed developments, the fallacy
of applying this argument to the Proposed Silvery Fancy
development is clearly addressed in the official cost benefit
analysis report prepared by the Town of Emmitsburg. The
report shows that new housing like what is proposed for Silver
Fancy pay a lot more in taxes than the average existing house,
while demanding fewer services in the short term because all
the public facilities are new. This detailed
analysis compares the property tax for a typical existing home
in Emmitsburg - with an average value $125,000 against the
$200,00 average home price in the Silver Fancy development.
Multiplying
the current property tax rate in Emmitsburg of $0.36 per
$100.00 of assessed value, one can quickly see the proposed
homes will have a tax yield return which is 160% as great as
that of the existing houses in Emmitsburg - while drawing the
same or lower level of town services!
Property
tax returns from an average:
|
Years |
Existing
Homes |
Silver
Fancy Homes |
%
Increase |
|
1 |
$450 |
$720 |
160% |
|
5 |
$2,250 |
$3,600 |
160% |
|
10 |
$4,500 |
$7,200 |
160% |
|
20 |
$9,000 |
$14,400 |
160% |
In
addition to the value of the property taxes generated there
are a few other factors, which should be considered:
The
new homes will be paying $7,000.00 in water & sewer tap
fees, A $1000.00 impact fee, and as much as $300.00 in a parks
& recreation fees. A fee of which very few if any of the
existing homes paid the town staff noted. When the water &
sewer tap and impact fees are added into the property tax
returns calculation noted above, the actual fees to the town
totals over $1,000,000 and the property taxes over 20 years
generate almost $2,000,000, for a total revenue to the Town of
around $3,000,000.
As
noted above, the proposed homes will be serviced by new state
of the art water and sewer mains, constructed by the
developer, which will require little or no maintenance for 20
to 30 years. Existing homes in Emmitsburg on the other hand
are presently serviced by water and sewer mains, which are 40
to 60 years old and require constant maintenance, repair and
replacement at a considerable annual cost to the town.
In
addition, since it reasonable to assume that the $200,000+
price tags of the new homes will draw in resident with a
higher per capita taxable income than that of the current
income level of a $125,000.00 home. As a result, the town can
also can reasonable expect increased revenue from the state
income tax sharing and the county piggyback tax equity
sharing, resulting in even a higher tax yield to the town.
When
completed, the 160 new homes in the Silver Fancy development
will result in, at a minimum, $1,280,000.00 total fees, to be
paid to the town at the time the 'building permit' is issued.
Money, the town staff has recommended be used mostly to fund
the repair and reconstruction of the deteriorating town's
water and sewer systems.
By
approving the Silver Fancy Annexation, the residents of
Emmitsburg will help the town receives the revenues it needs
to finally begin to resolve the town's long standing water
quality issues.
No
longer will you have to boil water before drinking it, or run
tap water through costly purification units. Instead, you'll
be able to enjoy sweet, cool, clear water as the founders of
the Emmitsburg Water Company 120 years ago intended you to.
Read
other articles related to the Silver Fancy Annexation
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