Some Clarksburg-area homeowners will soon be billed up to $1,500 annually for county services after Montgomery County Council members voted Tuesday to uphold special taxes on residents of three developments.
Council President Mike Knapp, who represents the Clarksburg area, urged council members to remove the development district label and accompanying fees from the Clarksburg Town Center, Arora Hills and Clarksburg Village communities saying the infrastructure the fees was intended to provide is still not available.
“The people who bought into that have been living a nightmare,” Knapp said. “We have many folks living on streets that have yet to be paved, piles of dirt that have yet to be moved.”
In 1994, Montgomery authorized the use of development districts to speed up construction and place the cost of quickly building infrastructure on those living in the new community, rather than all county residents footing the bill.
While services have lagged, residents of the development districts have not been required to pay the extra money. But with Tuesday’s decision, the fees will start piling up next summer.
Several council members voting to uphold the fees said it wouldn’t be fair to use taxpayer money from across the county for things the residents of these developments had agreed to pay extra to receive early, such as a local library.
“I think we have to move away from the everyone pays approach, because everyone does not all use,” said Councilwoman Nancy Floreen.
Clarksburg Town Center resident Lynn Fantle said that kind of thinking bothers her, since tax dollars from Clarksburg area residents will be used for projects across the county.
“By that thinking, we don’t have problems with water mains, so why should we pay a surcharge to fix those when people in Bethesda have old pipes that won’t work?” Fantle said.
After losing the vote, Knapp chastised those who voted to maintain the fees.
“To the folks in Clarksburg, I would say this appears to be a very sad day, the majority of government has basically turned their backs on you,” Knapp said.
