A Montgomery County “growth tax” law designed to force builders to pay for new roads and schools to ease the impact of development has raised substantially less money than promised by its supporters.
County officials had predicted that the 2003 law, which created a tax to help pay for schools and increased an existing roads tax, would generate as much as $66 million over the past two years. Instead, the amount raised has totaled about $37 million.
Although the shortfall was caused in part by a slowdown in the housing market, more than a third — about $13.5 million — of the anticipated funds were not collected because the County Council allowed a four-month delay before the new taxes took effect. That lag set off a rush by builders to apply for permits before the March 1, 2004, deadline.