Municipal services, including schools, are stretched to the limit. New or expanded school facilities are needed for the additional students generated by all these developments. Schools are heavily impacted by new development The Maine Department of Education helps pay for some school construction, but towns can't count on the state for much help. The application process for these funds is lengthy and too little money is earmarked for school construction.
Towns can opt to bite the bullet and pay for new schools themselves through higher property taxes.
Or there's a third option, one that is increasingly appealing, as new homes dot the landscape of once rural communities, and that is to let the new people pay a big chunk of the bill. Impact fees, a one-time charge tacked on to new construction, have long been used to offset the cost of specific public services and infrastructure like roads, water and sewers. But they are now seen as an attractive financial option by many communities faced with overcrowded schools. York voters approved an impact fee in 1997 to pay for expansion of both the middle and high schools. The mechanism is under study in several other Maine communities including Freeport and Cumberland.