AIKEN --- The cost of a new home in Aiken County could be going up by nearly $1,600.

That's how much a Maryland consulting firm says the county can charge in impact fees to recoup the strain new development puts on services such as law enforcement, garbage collection and transportation.

But it's not clear whether county council members, who would have to approve the fees, will go for increasing the price of a new home or other construction.

Other states -- particularly Florida -- are imposing impact fees on construction that affects existing roads and municipal services.

South Carolina is experiencing a population boom, said TischlerBise consultant Dwayne Guthrie, who spent about six months calculating how much Aiken County could charge under state law.

He estimates that by 2020 the county will have nearly 27,000 more people. The number of new homes, his study predicts, will increase by almost 13,000.

Impact fees, he said, can be used to pay for new recycling centers, parks, jails and road intersection improvements. If the county were to charge what he's suggesting, Mr. Guthrie said, it could generate about $7 million in five years for those projects.

The county paid Mr. Guthrie's firm $110,000 to conduct the study and to figure out what it can charge and what it could use the money for.

South Carolina law does not allow the money to be used for schools, and any impact fees collected have to be used within three years, Mr. Guthrie told council members.

The money also has to be used for "capital items" that have a lifetime of at least five years and cost at least $100,000.

The fee wouldn't apply to only new residents.

"If you've lived here all your life and you build a new house, you have to pay an impact fee," Mr. Guthrie said.

The fee would vary depending on the structure and where it is built. Fees for a detached home, he said, would be $1,585 if it is in unincorporated Aiken County.

Fees for a new home inside city limits, he said, would be $584 because builders would not be charged for transportation improvements or for parks and recreation, which are already provided by the cities.

During his presentation to council members, Mr. Guthrie said the fees he calculated are "modest" compared with those in other states, such as Florida, where some communities charge thousands of dollars.

Councilman Chuck Smith noted that many residents are leaving Florida for South Carolina and other states.

"There's a reason people are coming up here from Florida," he said.

But Councilman Scott Singer disagreed, noting that homeowners who are leaving Florida have already paid the impact fee.

They're leaving, he said, because "the infrastructure hasn't kept up with the population."

And if Aiken County's not diligent, growth will outpace improvement of services, he said.

Mr. Singer called an impact fee a "fair and equitable way to address that problem."