Tax Assessments

David Kornblatt has a question for the Tax Man.If St. Paul Plaza, the office building that the veteran developer opened in 1989, was a big enough bust to put his company into Chapter 11 bankruptcy, how could its tax assessment go up 15 percent last month?Questions like that are breaking out all over. Office developers hammered by a market in which vacancy rates have climbed to more than 22 percent are getting -- and protesting -- new tax assessments that show their projects' values, and thus their tax bills, holding steady or even rising.

Appraised property values in South Carroll increased 28.1 percent over the last three years, exceeding the state average for reappraised properties.The rise in the value of land and buildings means South Carroll property owners will be paying higher tax bills over the next three years, on the average, unless the county reduces its tax rate.The increased assessments already have provoked anger among property owners questioning why values have risen dramatically despite a recession and slow real estate market.

Recognizing that a recession can have dramatic effects on real estate values, two local real estate groups have put together an educational seminar to give property owners advice on evaluating and appealing their property tax assessments."

Without discussion or public comment, the county commissioners votedunanimously yesterday to retain the cap on annual increases of property tax assessments at 10 percent, the maximum allowed by state law.No residents attended the hearing, which lasted about two minutes before the vote was called.The commissioners said they retained the 10 percent cap because lowering it could mean a reduction in revenue for fiscal 1993, which begins July 1. It would be hard to compensate for that loss, because state aid has been cut and revenue from income tax is likely to grow at a slower rate than in recent years, they said.

Howard County residents will have to wait at least two more weeks to find out whether their property tax assessments can grow more than 5 percent this year.County Executive Charles I. Ecker wants to keep the current 5 percent cap, but County Council Chairman C. Vernon Gray, D-3rd, wants a 10 percent ceiling, which he says would bring another $1.2 million to the county coffers without raising the tax rate.The council could not agree last night on either proposal. Mr. Gray and Paul R. Farragut, D-4th, supported the 10 percent measure and Charles C. Feaga, R-5th, and Shane Pendergrass, D-1st, supported the 5 percent cap.Darrel E. Drown, R-2nd, was absent.

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.

One of the smallest items on Gov. William Donald Schaefer's $450 million list of budget cuts is likely to raise one of the loudest howls from the public.The item is the $38,000 taken from the Property Tax Assessment Appeals Board, which will halt hearings by mid-November.The roughly 4,300 people who have appealed their assessments will just have to wait until after next July 1 to be heard, barring any new infusion of funds, said Craig Biggs, board administrator."That stinks!" was the immediate reaction of John D. O'Neill, a leader in the Baltimore County taxpayer protest movement.

Fred Lehman has lived in his home near Maryland Line in scenic northern Baltimore County for about 10 years.So he was a bit surprised a few weeks ago when his Baltimore County tax bill arrived with a notation that his house on Harris Mill Road was not an owner-occupied dwelling.The distinction is an important one. A year-old law in Baltimore County puts a ceiling on property tax assessments on owner-occupied dwellings, so that they can only increase by 4 percent in any year. State law places a cap of 10 percent on owner-occupied homes statewide.

WASHINGTON -- The hearts of many Americans would fibrillate if they received the jolt from the tax assessor that President Bush just got.Mr. Bush disclosed that the property assessment on his vacation home in Kennebunkport, Maine, soared nearly 2 1/2 times -- to $2,196,000 this year, from $892,000 in 1990."

Harry and Catherine Clemons admitted they were nervous -- "It was our first time," Catherine said -- but afterward they smiled like school kids.The Clemonses laughed at themselves, somewhat proudly, as they stood outside White Marsh library yesterday, reviewing their first encounter with a property assessor.They are among thousands in Baltimore County and the state who appealed their 1990 property tax assessments and who this week are taking their first crack at getting that assessment lowered.