Assessments And Taxation

Thousands of property owners might be getting improper tax breaks on second homes and rental properties, and more than 1,100 out-of-state companies might be doing business in Maryland without registering or paying required fees, according to a legislative audit released yesterday. The state is instituting a new application procedure to ensure that Maryland residential property owners get homestead credits - which limit annual property tax increases - only on their principal residences, as the law requires.

Access to real property assessment records, tax maps and sales data from the State Department of Assessments and Taxation can now be obtained on the Internet at www.dat.state.md.us seven days a week, 24 hours a day.The site was originally posted last April and was updated in the fall. It offers access to any of the 2 million real property accounts in Maryland.All that is needed to access the information is the address, the account number or the map parcel on the tax map."We noticed a large demand by people wanting to access property records, so we built this site to make it more convenient than having to call or visit local assessment offices," said Ronald W. Wineholt, director of Maryland's Department of Assessments and Taxation.

DENTON -- "Caroline County came in first, unfortunately," sighed Margaret Myers, president of the three-member County Commission during yesterday's meeting.The "first" -- Caroline County's property assessments increased more than any other in the state last year -- has angered a lot of property owners and stirred up a small furor in this rural mid-Shore county, known for its rich soil and productive vegetable farms.Citizen complaints and letters of appeal led the County Commission yesterday to invite the local assessor and the director of the Maryland Department of Assessments and Taxation to a future meeting and explain how assessments are made.

William Kenneth Blevins, former deputy director of the Maryland Department of Assessments and Taxation, died Thursday at Sinai Hospital of a heart attack after surgery. He was 68.A top-ranking official with the state for 16 years, he helped to unify the way state property taxes were assessed throughout Maryland. He began his career as an assessor in Baltimore County in 1963.Ronald W. Wineholt, director of the Department of Assessments and Taxation, said Mr. Blevins filled the No. 2 slot for many years before the deputy's position was created officially.

Gov. Parris N. Glendening filled several remaining slots in his Cabinet yesterday by reappointing the commanding general of the Maryland National Guard and the director of state planning, and appointing a new director of assessments and taxation.The governor also proved once again that it often pays, literally, to leave the state legislature: He appointed recently retired Baltimore Del. John W. Douglass to become deputy director of assessments and taxation.His other appointments included:* Maj. Gen. James F. Fretterd as adjutant general of the state's 9,400-member Army and Air National Guard.

Ever wonder how the state calculates how much your home is worth?You should -- since your July tax bill is based on what the state comes up with. The higher the value, usually, the higher your tax.Once a value is determined, 40 percent of this becomes your assessment. Your assessment is multiplied by the tax rate to figure your property taxes.William W. Saltzman, assistant to the director of the Maryland Department of Assessments and Taxation, says the total market value -- the value of the land plus all buildings -- is not a best guess.

State standing firm on some assessmentsAfter slashing about $200 million off the tax assessments of downtown office buildings in the first round of tax appeals, state assessors have shown some signs of digging in.Late last month, owners of both Signet Tower and the Bank of Baltimore building got "final notices" from the state Department of Assessments and Taxation refusing to reduce assessments that the buildings received late last year.The Bank of Baltimore building's assessment, therefore, stays at $50 million, and the Signet Tower is still worth $58.9 million, according to the state.

Property tax protest! It's on the minds of many people, some ofwhom may never have thought about it until various groups formed in Baltimore County.My group, Property Taxpayers United, started in January 1990 when central Baltimore County property owners were reassessed. Now new groups and extensions of our group are organizing in Dundalk, Essex, Perry Hall, Parkville and elsewhere. These are the homeowners from the Eastern part of the county who recently received their new assessments and tax bills.

NOT EVERY CITIZEN paid a home visit by Governor Schaefer is in the governor's doghouse.A year ago I wrote the governor to complain of a serious error in the assessment of my home. A week after the letter was written, my daughter and I were sitting in our living room watching television. It was 11 a.m. on a Saturday. She glanced out the window and said, "Dad, here comes Governor Schaefer."I was not surprised. It just seemed to me to be something Schaefer would do. He had my letter of complaint in his hand, and he said he wanted to see for himself what the problem was. After an hour of pleasant conversation and his assurance that the problem would be corrected, he stood up and looked out the window.

The General Assembly did not meet during the weekend, th 26th and 27th days of the session.Today1 p.m.: Senate Budget and Taxation Committee receives fiscal briefing on the State Reserve Fund, public debt, Office on Aging, state treasurer and Baltimore Regional Council of Governments, Room 100, Senate Office Building.2 p.m.: House Appropriations subcommittees sponsor budget hearings on higher education issues, assessments and taxation, and the Patuxent Institution, rooms 130, 406 and 431 respectively, House Office Building.

In an effort to provide tax relief to homeowners, Republican Sen. Barry Glassman has filed a bill to freeze at current levels those properties due for re-assessment in 2009 and to recalculate assessments completed in the last five years so that those reflect today's market values. The proposal would mean the properties along the Route 40 corridor would remain at the assessment level established three years ago rather than go through the process, scheduled to begin in January and likely to show an increase in value.

Thousands of property owners might be getting improper tax breaks on second homes and rental properties, and more than 1,100 out-of-state companies might be doing business in Maryland without registering or paying required fees, according to a legislative audit released yesterday. The state is instituting a new application procedure to ensure that Maryland residential property owners get homestead credits - which limit annual property tax increases - only on their principal residences, as the law requires.

While the highest assessments in more than a decade are arriving in the mail to one-third of Harford's property owners, the county isn't preparing for a major boost to its coffers. "It helps the county grow revenues to cover inflation," said budget director John J. O'Neill Jr. "It's not a big windfall for the county. It doesn't give us a big pot of money." The state Department of Assessments and Taxation, which reassesses one-third of the properties in each of the state's 24 jurisdictions each year, mailed out new assessments last week to more than 645,000 properties, 22,500 of which are in Harford, said Jerrald Simmers of the state Department of Assessments and Taxation.

A Maryland state employee identified as No. 004577 was laid off last week. According to records released by Gov. Robert L. Ehrlich Jr.'s office, that employee earned $59,746 a year as supervisor of property maps in the Department of Assessments and Taxation. The supervisor's termination - along with the layoffs of about 80 additional state employees and the abolishment of 879 vacant positions to help cut $208 million from the state budget - leaves questions about how the state and those who depend on its services will adjust.

Mildred C. Kennedy, a retired administrative assistant with the state Department of Assessments and Taxation, died of cancer Thursday at Gilchrist Center for Hospice Care. The Timonium resident was 79. Born and raised in Baltimore, Miss Kennedy was the daughter of Ambrose Kennedy, an insurance executive who was a congressman from 1932 to 1940. She attended the Institute of Notre Dame and graduated from Mount St. Agnes High School in 1942. After graduating from Eaton & Burnett Business College Inc., she worked as a secretary for the Veterans Administration.

Last month brought more than the usual holiday spirit for 692,000 Maryland homeowners who received their residential property reassessments from the Maryland State Department of Assessments and Taxation. For many, it was an insignificant reminder that three years have passed since their last property reassessment. For others, it was a rude awakening that an increase in demand - coupled with a decrease in housing inventory - has raised real estate values and their property taxes. Case in point - the average property assessment increase for 2003 was 26.4 percent, compared with 15.9 percent in 2002, 10.1 percent in 2001 and 5.7 percent in 2000, according to state figures.

In explaining his opposition to a proposed increase in Howard County's real estate transfer tax, real estate broker Louis M. Pope named a reason that was misleading in a Tuesday article in the Howard County edition of The Sun. Residents who refinance the home in which they live are not subject to transfer taxes, according to Robert E. Young, associate director of Maryland's Department of Assessments and Taxation.

Feb. 12 is deadline to mail appeals of assessments Homeowners who recently received a property assessment notice from the state Department of Assessments and Taxation and wish to dispute the department's estimate must postmark their appeal form by Feb. 12. About 620,000 assessment notices were mailed Dec. 29. The Feb. 12 deadline to file an appeal is for those property owners who received notices, said Ron W. Wineholt, director of the state Department of...

A BETTER WAY to compute residential property taxes is only a signature away. A bill passed by both houses of the legislature finally will bring truth in taxation if the Gov. Parris N. Glendening signs the measure, as he has indicated he will. For much of this century, Maryland taxpayers have been assessed taxes on percentages of the value of their homes -- 46 percent, 50 percent, 60 percent. The current standard is 40 percent. These fractional assessments were feel-good changes that sought to relieve inflationary fears over the last century.

Access to real property assessment records, tax maps and sales data from the State Department of Assessments and Taxation can now be obtained on the Internet at www.dat.state.md.us seven days a week, 24 hours a day.The site was originally posted last April and was updated in the fall. It offers access to any of the 2 million real property accounts in Maryland.All that is needed to access the information is the address, the account number or the map parcel on the tax map."We noticed a large demand by people wanting to access property records, so we built this site to make it more convenient than having to call or visit local assessment offices," said Ronald W. Wineholt, director of Maryland's Department of Assessments and Taxation.