Fees

Last night, 13abc reported that the Lucas County Commissioners are looking at raising the Real Estate Conveyance Fee from $3 per $1000 to the state maximum of $4 per 1000 take a look...

Note in the story that Pete Gerken seems to be for it and Ben Konop is solidly against it. The extra dollar would go to the Lucas County Improvement Corporation (LCIC) which Gerken is in charge of and Konop has been trying to find a way to get rid of. That explains the opinions. So far, Tina Skeldon Wozniak has not weighed in. I'll be interested to see which way she goes, but my guess is that she'll side with Gerken



As much as I hate to agree with Konop, he's right... at least to a degree. If the money is going to go to the LCIC, then don't do it. If it was going for actually doing economic development in Lucas County, then I could probably get behind it.



The woman from the Toledo Board of Realtors opposes it, and she makes somewhat of a good argument. At this point in economic history, raising government fees on anything seems like a pretty bad idea. However, according to the report, it would raise the transaction fees an average of $125 per transaction. On a $100,000 house, the fee would go from $300 to $400. She says that this could cause buyers and/or sellers to walk away. All of the houses I've owned have been in the $100,000 area and the fact is that an additional $100 wouldn't have been a deal breaker for me and I don't think it would be for too many others.



Gerken is right, we need to work on getting jobs to come to Lucas County. However, looking around at the economic development I've been seeing going on here, even before the economy went on the skids, I have to say that giving this money to the LCIC will do little if any more for economic development than setting hundred dollar bills on fire.