Assessment Cap

A 5 percent cap on personal property assessments would cost Howard County $2.2 million -- about 4 cents on the property tax rate, County Budget Director Raymond S. Wacks said last night.Despite an impending shortfall of at least $20 million for the fiscal year beginning July 1, Mr. Wacks urged the County Council to pass the assessment cap."If there are to be relatively large increases in revenue, they will have to be done through the tax rate" rather than through increased assessments, Mr. Wacks said.

When Marylanders rebelled against rising propert assessments in 1989, they told horror stories of working people and retired couples being taxed out of their homes.Maryland lawmakers listened. In the election year of 1990, they passed a law limiting the increase in property taxes people have to pay because of higher assessments.As it turns out, however, the major beneficiaries are well-to-do homeowners, not their working-class neighbors, according to a recent study of Baltimore County's 4 percent limit on assessment increases.

The County Council, on a 4-3 vote, last night adopted the 4 percent cap on property-tax assessment increases proposed by Executive Robert R. Neall.In proposing the cap, Mr. Neall said he was trying to provide homeowners with the lower tax bills they expected after voters approved a property tax cap last month.Although council members seemed bewildered by the numbers, percentages and charts, both promoting and arguing against the assessment cap, a majority -- council members George Bachman, Edward Middlebrooks, Carl Holland and Diane Evans -- agreed with Mr. Neall.

The Anne Arundel County Council is scheduled to vote tonight on County Executive Robert R. Neall's plan to cap at 4 percent the property assessment increase on which homeowners can be taxed, a measure he says is necessary for homeowners to realize the sort of savings they expected when voting for a property tax cap last month.But its passage, as well as its effect, is far from certain.The bill would only affect assessments during the coming year, and would have to be re-adopted annually. But confusion over its effect has persuaded Council Chairman David G. Boschert to say he would most likely oppose the bill, preferring to stick with the relief offered by the recently approved tax cap.The tax cap limits the increase in property tax revenue the county can collect to the rate of inflation or 4.5 percent, whichever is less.

Tax rebels in Anne Arundel County are threatening to challenge in court the county's limit on property assessment increases, a move that could threaten tax credits for more than a half million homeowners statewide.On Monday, the County Council adopted a 4 percent cap on annual assessment increases.But Robert C. Schaeffer, leader of the county's anti-tax group, complained that the assessment cap benefits only affluent homeowners whose properties increase in value more rapidly than others. Their assessments would be held artificially low, while the assessments of more moderately priced homes would hardly be affected.

It seems a virtual certainty that the county's property tax assessment cap will be raised to 10 percent to boost revenue and offset statebudget cuts.If the cap is raised, Harford could collect at least$731,000 more in property taxes next year, said county Treasurer James M. Jewell. This year, the county collected $61.5 million in real property taxes, which represents 40 percent of the county's income, Jewell said.Three council members introduced a measure Tuesday raising the tax assessment cap to 10 percent from its current 6 percent, and a fourth council member says she favors the bill, making a majority vote onthe seven-member body likely.

County administrators and the County Council are debating whether toraise the property tax assessment cap from 6 percent to 10 percent as a way to offset $4 million in state aid cutbacks.If the property tax assessment cap is raised, it would generate $731,000 more in income for the county than last year, said John Scotten, deputy treasurer.Council members have mixed opinions on the proposal.PresidentJeffrey D. Wilson and Councilwoman Theresa M. Pierno, D-District C, said last week they support raising the property tax assessment to 10percent.

Despite a growing deficit in the county budget, the County Council turned down $2 million Monday by voting, 4-1, to keep property tax assessment increases to 5 percent a year.By placing a 5 percent cap on assessments, the county will, in effect, be granting an extra $2 million in credits to property owners. Had there been no cap at all, growing assessments would have swelled revenue by $3 million with no increase in the property tax rate.County budget director Raymond S. Wacks told the councilthat about 41,800 of the roughly 49,300 households in the county will benefit from the 5 percent cap.State law requires counties to set an assessment cap at 10 percent or less.

The Bel Air Town Commissioners are expected to initiate plans tomorrow to limit tax assessment increases on residential properties to 10 percent a year.At their regular meeting at 7:30 p.m., the commissioners are expected to schedule a public hearing on the plan for Monday, Dec. 17, Town Administrator William N. McFaul said.The commissioners are expected to approve the assessment cap by the end of the year."(The cap) establishes a limit to the assessment of your property," McFaul said. "It's to protect the property owner."

County Executive Robert R. Neall took office yesterday trying not to tax or spend.In his first piece of legislation to the County Council, Neall planned to propose a 10 percent cap on annual growth in individual property assessments, even while he seeks about $10 million savings in the $617 million budget. The current growth limit is 15 percent.Passage of the assessment cap bill would be a quick response by the new administration to homeowners' demands for tax relief, a central theme in last month's elections.

It's a rite of winter: Tax assessment notices hit Maryland mailboxes in December, and thousands of homeowners rush to file appeals within the 45-day window. Now, however, property appraisers from the state report a new phenomenon: a drove of challenges to assessments recorded a year or more ago. Two years ago, fewer than 900 "petitions for review" were filed. But with the slump in home values showing no sign of abating, more than 15,000 Maryland homeowners exercised their appeal rights last year.

The Howard County Council approved a bill last night that would reduce the local property assessment cap from 5 percent to 4 percent in July 2007, despite a strongly worded last-minute veto threat from County Executive James N. Robey. The bill, suggested by western county Republican Charles C. Feaga and co-sponsored by two other members, passed on a 3-2 vote, one shy of the margin needed to override a veto. Robey's move was puzzling, said council Chairman Christopher J. Merdon, who said he first heard of it in a telephone message several hours before last night's voting session.

Three of Howard County's five council members are proposing to reduce the local residential assessment cap to 4 percent from 5 percent, the second property tax cut suggested this election year. The assessment cap idea comes from council Chairman Christopher J. Merdon, an Ellicott City Republican, Charles C. Feaga, a western county Republican, and David A. Rakes, an east Columbia Democrat. If approved, the legislation would save the owner of a median-priced, $450,000 home about $46 a year, budget officials said - but not until July 2007 when the change would take effect.

Howard County's two Republican state senators want a bill that would impose a mandatory 10 percent ceiling on rising property assessments in Columbia to be voluntary instead. Sens. Sandra B. Schrader and Robert H. Kittleman believe the state should not dictate the Columbia Association's affairs. The senators are not planning to offer an amendment to the bill, they said. They are waiting to see what happens to it in the Senate Judicial Proceedings Committee, which heard the bill Wednesday and has not scheduled a vote on it. "I'd hate to start running the Columbia Association from the state legislature," Kittleman said.

The Columbia Association board of directors agrees with Del. Shane E. Pendergrass that the association needs a 10 percent ceiling on rising property assessments, but it doesn't want the state to make CA impose one. Backsliding from its original position of supporting Pendergrass' effort to require the 10 percent cap, the board has decided it wants Pendergrass to change her legislation to allow - not force - the association to use a cap. In a 6-4 decision...

When Marylanders rebelled against rising propert assessments in 1989, they told horror stories of working people and retired couples being taxed out of their homes.Maryland lawmakers listened. In the election year of 1990, they passed a law limiting the increase in property taxes people have to pay because of higher assessments.As it turns out, however, the major beneficiaries are well-to-do homeowners, not their working-class neighbors, according to a recent study of Baltimore County's 4 percent limit on assessment increases.

Tax rebels in Anne Arundel County are threatening to challenge in court the county's limit on property assessment increases, a move that could threaten tax credits for more than a half million homeowners statewide.On Monday, the County Council adopted a 4 percent cap on annual assessment increases.But Robert C. Schaeffer, leader of the county's anti-tax group, complained that the assessment cap benefits only affluent homeowners whose properties increase in value more rapidly than others. Their assessments would be held artificially low, while the assessments of more moderately priced homes would hardly be affected.

The County Council, on a 4-3 vote, last night adopted the 4 percent cap on property-tax assessment increases proposed by Executive Robert R. Neall.In proposing the cap, Mr. Neall said he was trying to provide homeowners with the lower tax bills they expected after voters approved a property tax cap last month.Although council members seemed bewildered by the numbers, percentages and charts, both promoting and arguing against the assessment cap, a majority -- council members George Bachman, Edward Middlebrooks, Carl Holland and Diane Evans -- agreed with Mr. Neall.

The Anne Arundel County Council is scheduled to vote tonight on County Executive Robert R. Neall's plan to cap at 4 percent the property assessment increase on which homeowners can be taxed, a measure he says is necessary for homeowners to realize the sort of savings they expected when voting for a property tax cap last month.But its passage, as well as its effect, is far from certain.The bill would only affect assessments during the coming year, and would have to be re-adopted annually. But confusion over its effect has persuaded Council Chairman David G. Boschert to say he would most likely oppose the bill, preferring to stick with the relief offered by the recently approved tax cap.The tax cap limits the increase in property tax revenue the county can collect to the rate of inflation or 4.5 percent, whichever is less.

A 5 percent cap on personal property assessments would cost Howard County $2.2 million -- about 4 cents on the property tax rate, County Budget Director Raymond S. Wacks said last night.Despite an impending shortfall of at least $20 million for the fiscal year beginning July 1, Mr. Wacks urged the County Council to pass the assessment cap."If there are to be relatively large increases in revenue, they will have to be done through the tax rate" rather than through increased assessments, Mr. Wacks said.