St. Mary's County officials present updated impact-fee calculation and five-year CIP; commissioners debate borrowing plan

County finance staff presented an updated impact-fee calculation and a revised five-year capital improvement plan during a commissioners' CIP work session, identifying higher costs for parks and a need to balance borrowing against available transfer-tax revenue.

The county's presenter, Ms. Cudmore (finance staff), said the county's annual impact-fee update tracks projects in the plan and adjusts fees accordingly. She said the county's current consolidated impact fee remained at 45,100 and that the combined calculated per-unit impact across school, road and park components has risen in recent years as construction costs and new projects were added to the plan. Ms. Cudmore said the largest driver in the current update was recreation and parks, where growth-related projects in the package — including a new sports complex, Chaptico Park phase development, Central County Park, Myrtle Point Park, Shannon Farm property and a replacement recreation center — increased the parks-related capital need.

Commiss…