Many homeowners would pay another $10 to $25 annually into a new Greenfund to reduce nutrient runoff in the Chesapeake Bay, under a “simpler” and “better” proposal than one floated in the spring, Gov. Martin O?Malley said. According to the proposal the Chesapeake Bay Foundation developed:
» Homeowners would pay a penny for every square foot of their house that?s more than 1,000 square feet. For example, the owner of a 2,000-square-foot house would pay $10.
» Commercial property owners would pay a similar fee based on the size of their roofs and parking lots ? about $3,250 a year for a big-box store.
» Apartment owners would be charged as commercial properties.
This plan would raise $85 million a year.
The foundation?s plan differs from the Greenfund proposal House Environmental Matters Chairwoman Maggie McIntosh got through the House of Delegates.
Under her plan, developers would have paid fees based on the amount of new impervious surfaces they built. The Senate took no action on the plan.
“I now want you to erase everything you knew about that bill,” McIntosh told committee members.
One of problems with the earlier plan is “old homes also contribute to the problems that we have in the Bay.”
Committee member Doyle Niemann, D-Prince George?s, said, “We?ve gone from a user fee to, in effect, a tax. Let?s be honest about this ? we?re creating a tax mechanism.”
“There will be some who will want to characterize it that way, and that?s their right,” O?Malley said Tuesday night.
“I think increasingly more and more us today are understanding that the investments we make today are making our state a better place for our kids, and that?s the Maryland I hope to appeal to.”
No bill has been drafted, but representatives of home builders and sports fishermen testified for the idea, while those for farmers and county governments had misgivings.
