Property Owners

About 25,000 Baltimore homeowners who received the Homestead Property Tax Credit this year will lose the sometimes-large break if they don't apply for it by Dec. 31, the Baltimore City Council warned Monday. The one-time application is a relatively new requirement — the General Assembly mandated it in 2007 to cut down on ineligibility problems, setting the deadline at the end of this year to give homeowners plenty of time. But Councilwoman Mary Pat Clarke, Council President Bernard C. "Jack" Young and other council members are worried that some residents will see their tax bills spike next July because they don't know about the requirement.

Fewer children were poisoned by lead-based paint in 2011 than in any year since Maryland began tracking cases nearly two decades ago, prompting the state to expand its focus to newer rental properties and owner-occupied homes. A survey released Thursday by the state Department of the Environment showed 452 children had dangerous lead levels in their blood last year, down from more than 14,500 youngsters who tested positive for the substance in 1993. In 2010, 531 children were found to have the same level of lead poisoning.

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.

Two reasons you should fully understand your property-tax bill: to make sure you're not getting overcharged -- and to make sure you're not getting undercharged. Really. Baltimore's finance department has a "billing integrity" unit for ferreting out problems , such as property owners collecting property tax credits to which they're not entitled. Officials have pursued such owners for the back taxes, plus interest, plus penalties. (And the penalties were increased statewide this year for people wrongly collecting homestead credits meant for owner-occupiers.)

Enforcement of a three-year-old Annapolis law levying fines for false security alarms will begin Sept. 1 as city police start cracking down on businesses and residences. Property owners will get a pass for the first two false alarms; for the third and fourth within a year, a civil fine of $100 will be assessed. That jumps to $200 for subsequent false alarms. The clock doesn't start ticking anew until 365 days pass with no false alarm, said Annapolis Police Maj. Scott Baker. Responding to false alarms costs the city money - an estimated $60 to $65 per officer responding, and sometimes two are sent.

For weeks city and state officials have been on a scavenger hunt. Their goal: To track down documents, if they exist, showing that 76 property owners in Baltimore have been legitimately receiving hundreds of thousands of dollars in discounts on local property tax bills. The search began after the city office responsible for approving the historic property tax credit was unable to locate key records. Those records would prove that the properties' owners had received “final certification” needed to qualify for a 10-year tax break on historic rehabs.

Kenneth Lyles, a barber at the Total Male on East Monument Street, described the devastating scene: a loud bang on the street that sounded like the passing tow truck had hit something and then a deep hole in the pavement opening quickly, peeling down away from the surface like Play-Doh. "You couldn't see the bottom," he said. "It was a scary sight, man. " Lyles said he and others outside at the time told the truck driver to quickly keep driving. He said they rushed to both ends of the block between North Patterson Park Avenue and North Montford Avenue to divert traffic away from the widening trench.

Baltimore City's belated effort to collect full-rate property taxes on unsold but move-in-ready condo units highlights how much reliance the city places on property owners to shoulder, among other things, the costs of infrastructure and public safety services ("Condos' tax bills see big increases," July 16). No doubt these experienced developers had budgeted for these taxes and were wondering just how long the heavily discounted undeveloped-property-tax-rate windfall would last. Does an extra step need to be added to the new property development process to highlight that bright line?

Tall, tangled grass grows on parts of the golf course at the former Chestnut Ridge Country Club. The buildings are locked. No one plays. The club closed last fall amid financial problems and a legal fight with former members. Now, its sprawling land in Lutherville is the subject of another battle. Nearby property owners are asking the Baltimore County Council to protect the land, worried that a developer will damage the environment and clog local roads by building homes there. "That green space, that stream valley was always an open space that this community knew as a golf course for nearly 60 years," said Howard Schulman, who lives on Broadway Road.

Heads up, Baltimore: Property-tax bills will be arriving a bit late. They're normally sent out by July 1, but the city's Department of Finance is warning that some might be mailed up to a week later because the tax rate wasn't certified until June 25 . Once the City Council approves the rate as part of the budget, the state Department of Assessments and Taxation needs five to seven business days to prepare tax assessment files for...