The St. Charles portion of Waldorf, home to nearly 20% of Charles County’s population, generates more money for County coffers than the community requires from them.

American Community Properties Trust (ACPT) recently delivered its 2000-06 Fiscal Impact Study to the County.  The study, conducted by PA Consultants, concluded that for every dollar the county spent on St. Charles, the community generated $1.26 in county revenue.  That 26 cent profit totaled $69.5 million during the report’s six year study period; nearly double the profit reported in the previous fiscal study for 1995-99. 

In all, St. Charles generated $341 million for the county, an average of $48 million per year.  Half of which came from property taxes alone. 

“In 1972 … St. Charles made a pledge that remains unique in Charles County—to be a self-sustaining community that benefits the quality of life of all residents of Charles County,” said Edwin L. Kelly, President and Chief Operating Officer.  “By generating surplus tax revenue for Charles County, by donating school sites, parks, roads, and infrastructure, we are keeping that commitment.”

In addition to housing 20% of the county, the neighborhoods of St. Charles also contain 20% of the county’s students and an equal percentage of those adults employed in-county.  Conversely, Charles County spends about 10% of its operating revenue on services for the St. Charles communities. 

ACPT focuses its improvement dollars on the new development areas in the eastern portion of St. Charles.  The community’s older neighborhoods maintain public areas with residents’ assessment fees.  These same public areas in other county neighborhoods are maintained with county funds. 

St. Charles residents pay taxes that can be used to maintain other county neighborhoods, but receive no maintenance funds for their own neighborhoods in return.  The deteriorating storm management systems in many of St. Charles’ older neighbors, for instance, require much more capital outlay than homeowners associations can handle. 

Only about 40% of St. Charles’ 9,100 acres is un-developed.  When the neighborhoods in Fairway Village, bordered by St. Charles Parkway and Billingsly Road, are finished, ACPT has plans for two more villages.  Wooded Glen and Piney Reach Villages will contain 10,000 new “residential units”, a combination of apartments, townhomes and single-family houses.  St. Charles currently contains 9,820 units. 

“… this is just the beginning; our best is yet to come” noted Mr. Kelly, pointing to the opening of Regency Stadium in St. Charles, the extension of St. Charles Parkway, the widening of Billingsley Road, the development of the O’Donnell Lake Restaurant Park, and the planned CPV St. Charles electric generation plant.  “St. Charles is poised to continue making positive improvements to our county’s quality of life for decades to come.”

When Docket 90, the development agreement for St. Charles, was signed in 1972, both the developer and the Charles County Government agreed to provisions intending to ensure that the 9,100 acre planned community would be self-sustaining.  New roads, infrastructure, school sites, open space and economic development were incorporated into St. Charles’ master plan to mitigate the impact of residential growth in the new town, providing a positive fiscal impact on Charles County.

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