Taxing District

The County Council will consider adding two special tax districts, one in Arnold and the other in Shady Side, at a public hearing tonight.The districts allow the county to collect from each homeowner a fee, which it gives to community associations to be spent for specific projects.The 42 special tax districts in Anne Arundel County last year received $2.1 million for projects that included maintenance of community beaches, parks and piers, special security services and insect and pest control.

Hoping to win over opponents of a city tax district designed to raise money for attracting tourists and conventions, the Greater Baltimore Committee proposed yesterday shrinking the district while excluding stores and bars that serve little food.But the business group's attempt to forge a compromise failed to sway opponents, including two key state legislators and the Restaurant Association of Maryland.The GBC's move, which came at a meeting in Annapolis with state senators representing Baltimore, amounted to a last-ditch attempt to win passage of a state bill that would allow the city to create a new tourism district.

Crofton property owners will be asked tonight to approve a 1997 tax district budget of $574,000, a 1 percent increase over the current spending plan.Under a change in the Crofton Civic Association bylaws approved a year ago, a budget that includes an increase over the previous year may not be adopted without a membership vote. Under the old bylaws, the budget was approved by the association board of directors.Residents can either approve the spending plan or send it back to the board for changes.

They voted for local taxes, collected them for 34 years and then balked at spending the money.From 1961 to 1994, the special Anne Arundel district of Long Point on the Severn raised more than $50,000 in taxes for the sole purpose of maintaining the mile-long ribbon of asphalt that is the only access to the private area.The problem was that two-thirds of the community's 52 homes fell inside the boundaries of the tax district. The other third, built after 1961, did not.The old-timers offered a simple answer: All used the road, all needed to pay.The newcomers balked, noting that the road was not their problem.

Harford County representatives to the House of Delegates have placed a plan by County Executive James M. Harkins to create special taxing districts on its summer-study agenda, effectively killing the bill for this General Assembly session, officials confirmed yesterday. Del. Barry Glassman, a Republican who is delegation chairman, said yesterday that he sent a letter to Harkins late last week notifying him of the delegates' decision. "There were just so many unanswered questions," Glassman said.

Teri Nilsen and her Johns Creek neighbors will pay nearly $800 more in taxes next year, and they have only themselves to blame.OK, maybe Mother Nature had a hand in it, too.Ms. Nilsen and seven neighbors have formed the Johns Creek Waterway Tax District, to restore a boating channel through the West River tributary that has been filled in by natural erosion from the creek's banks, their yards and nearby farms.Ten to 15 years ago, the channel was 5 feet deep.Today, even at high tide, it is just 3 feet deep.

FINANCING ROAD IMPROVEMENTS, particularly those designed to attract large industrial and commercial enterprises, used to be a relatively simple task. Draw up the engineering plans, hold a public hearing and the County Council would add the project to the capital improvements budget.But with its 2-year-old tax cap, Anne Arundel County no longer has an easy route to finance major road projects with general obligation bonds.Undeveloped properties along Route 32 between the Howard County line and the National Security Agency near Fort Meade should be among the most attractive commercial and industrial properties in the county.

A special taxing district in Charles Village was earnestly defended -- and attacked -- last night in a City Council committee hearing on the future of the North Baltimore urban experiment. Grenville B. Whitman, a resident who has led a crusade against the Charles Village Community Benefits District, told the Urban Affairs Committee that its accomplishments in fighting crime and grime in the district's 100 square blocks are illusory -- not real. Whitman -- who took pictures on Memorial Day to document trash in neighborhood alleys -- told the committee and other council members attending the session, "The benefits district could close up tomorrow and no one would really notice."

Before Carroll's General Assembly delegation hears anything else about a special taxing district in Lineboro, lawmakers want more information about fixing failing septic systems in the tiny North Carroll community. And they want to be sure residents have reached a consensus.Last week, lawmakers rejected a bill that would have created a tax district to pay for a community waste water treatment system. A similar request by county commissioners was voted down last year."I have asked for more information about this self-help project, but I'm still waiting," said Del. Joseph M. Getty, a Republican whose district includes Lineboro.

City officials and business leaders unveiled a plan yesterday to fight downtown crime and grime by raising city property taxes on commercial real estate by 5 percent throughout downtown Baltimore.Gov. William Donald Schaefer joined city officials and three dozen business leaders at the Center Club to drum up support for the proposal, which would create a "special benefits district" containing 1,000 private properties in a 90-block area.The proposal must be approved by the General Assembly and the City Council.