Homestead

Beginning this week, Maryland's Department of Assessments and Taxation can begin penalizing homeowners who received a homestead credit this year as a result of deception. Penalties will be issued on an ad hoc basis as the department learns of violators, said Robert E. Young, Maryland's director of assessments and taxation. "It's going to be interesting to see how many of them there are," he said. The penalty, approved overwhelmingly by the General Assembly, is equal to 25 percent of "the amount of the property tax credit improperly received," according to the fiscal and policy analysis of the law. Homeowners, of course, still are on the hook for reimbursing the state, with interest, the amount they inappropriately saved by using the credit.

Archaeologists have discovered what they think are remains of a barn or blacksmith workshop in North Bethesda that could date to the days of Josiah Henson, a former slave whose autobiography inspired the novel "Uncle Tom's Cabin. " Looking for evidence of what slave life in Maryland was like, archaeologists with the Maryland-National Capital Park and Planning Commission Montgomery Parks and the PBS program "Time Team America" began exploring the Josiah Henson Special Park on Monday.

As taken from the pages of The Aegis dated Thursday, July 12, 1962: The Town of Bel Air grew by 249 acres as a result of a property annexation acquired by the Commissioners of Bel Air. The property known as "The Homestead," a 300-acre farm, was divided into three parcels. One was owned by the Bel Air Methodist Church, one by the Hanover-Baltimore Corporation and the remainder under contract to the Homestead Development Company, whose plan was to construct a large housing development.

State auditors are examining how well Maryland's assessments agency has managed the homestead property tax credit, a popular tax break for homeowners that has come under increased scrutiny since The Baltimore Sun revealed that hundreds of city owners were improperly receiving multiple credits. Auditors have been at the Department of Assessments and Taxation for the past two weeks, said its director, Robert E. Young. The goal is to complete a review of the homestead credit program in time for next year's General Assembly session, which starts in January, according to chief auditor Bruce Myers.

Henry Hager, the husband of former first daughter Jenna Bush Hager, is entitled to a $296 property tax discount on his South Baltimore rowhouse for the current tax year, the state Department of Assessments and Taxation says. An article Tuesday in The Baltimore Sun questioned the validity of Hager's homestead credit for the year that began July 1. The credit program is supposed to be available only to owner-occupants, and Hager has rented out the house since August - nearly the entire tax year.

It's been about a year and a half since former first daughter Jenna Bush Hager and her husband, Henry, reportedly left their South Baltimore rowhouse for new digs in Manhattan. But Henry Hager still owns the Baltimore place — and the couple still enjoys a property tax break that's supposed to be available only to owner-occupants. The Hagers' tax credit this year is small: a $296.40 discount on a tax bill approaching $9,000. Still, why would they get any break as absentee owners? On Friday, a Baltimore Sun reporter knocked on the door of the Hagers' home.

The General Assembly has approved a bill imposing steep penalties on homeowners who are caught getting homestead property tax credits they're not entitled to receive. Fines would equal 25 percent of any undeserved break - a considerable punishment given that the credit currently cuts the tax bills of many Baltimore homeowners by thousands of dollars per year. "Hopefully this significant penalty will deter people from abusing this tax credit in the future," the bill's sponsor, Del. Samuel I. “Sandy” Rosenberg, said Saturday evening after final passage by the House of Delegates.

Plenty of Marylanders have received homestead property tax credits they weren't eligible for . But Michele Barley has the opposite problem -- she qualifies and isn't getting it. The Baltimore resident had a homestead credit that knocked $912 off her bill last tax year. This tax year? Zilch. Up went her mortgage payments as a result, and she wrote in an email that her calls to try to restore her credit had gotten her nowhere. "I am a single mother and cannot believe that I cannot get someone to help me with this," said Barley, who lives in the home as the tax break requires.

Maryland homeowners who are caught getting unwarranted homestead credits on their property tax bills would face fines equal to 25 percent of any undeserved break, under a bill introduced Friday in the General Assembly. Meanwhile, Del. Samuel I. Rosenberg, the bill's sponsor, has abandoned an ambitious idea to revamp Maryland's 35-year-old homestead credit — which rewards longtime residency — with a tiered system tied to homeowners' incomes. Though he earlier called that a fairer system, he says he has concluded such an overhaul lacks public support and would be too complicated.

Circuit Court Clerk Frank M. Conaway Sr. has paid more than $3,600 in back property taxes on a rental home he owns, months after it emerged that he'd wrongly been receiving a homestead tax break on the house for years. "I was very happy to pay it, to tell you the truth," he said Tuesday. "If I owed it, I wanted to pay it. " Conaway paid the bill Dec. 21, the same day city finance officials were quoted in a Baltimore Sun article saying they were still awaiting a check from him. Conaway says that's the first time he knew how much money he owed.