City shouldn’t stockpile school mitigation, affordable housing money

Frederick’s aldermen have identified an important problem, highlighting the fact that the city has been collecting millions of dollars from developers that is supposed to go to build affordable housing and school facilities, but failing to spend the money. Since 2019, the city has received nearly $6 million in school mitigation fees — levied on developments where schools are already overcrowded — and almost $5 million for affordable housing, which was paid by developers rather than include affordable units in their projects.