Helen Waldron, 71, and her neighbor, Hazel Scrivener, 80, are two mild-mannered, but determined women who weren't looking to make a fuss when they appeared at the annual state-required Constant Yield public hearing on property taxes held by the County Council.
In fact, neither of the Ellicott City widows had even intended to testify, but since no one else among Howard County's roughly 270,000 people appeared to protest their rising bills, white-haired Hazel Scrivener finally volunteered to say a few words.
"They don't want to get involved in this kind of stuff," Scrivener said, explaining why no one else turned out. She and Waldron braved the chilly rain that Monday night, but had hoped someone else would do the talking. Scrivener's objection to not lowering the county tax rate in the face of rising state property assessments is a simple one.
"It's going to cost me a lot more money," Scrivener told the council members, though she didn't give an amount.
The annual hearing is required by state law. It's how state legislators try to tell taxpayers that their county officials, not state delegates and senators, are to blame for rising taxes. If the County Council would merely lower the property tax rate, homeowners' bills wouldn't increase.
The Howard council's final vote on the budget is scheduled for Wednesday.
County Executive Ken Ulman has proposed leaving the rate at $1.014 per $100 of assessed value, and if the council agrees, the county will collect $17.8 million more revenue from rising home values and new construction. That's money badly needed to offset dropping income tax collections and real estate revenues, and cuts in state aid.
Individually, leaving the rate alone means the owner of a house worth $250,000 would pay $127 more, and the owner of a $450,000 house would pay $228 more, though longtime residents such as Waldron and Scrivener are protected by the county's 5 percent assessment cap. That means that if their home's value rises, they can't be taxed on more than 5 percent of the increase each year.
The women said they are both widows who don't have their late husbands' Social Security income anymore. They said their assets, mostly their life savings, are too high for them to qualify for the county's Senior Tax Credit program, which offers a tax discount for seniors 70 or older with incomes under $72,850 and assets under $500,000 excluding their homes. Councilman Greg Fox, a Fulton Republican, said he'd like to change the program's rules on asset limits.
