Annapolis, March 11, 2010; Delegate Mary-Dulany James and her colleague Delegate B. Daniel Riley have introduced a bill (HB1541) to protect a property owner in their district. This is a private property rights bill to prevent the state from the taking of land without just compensation to the owner.
Delegate James indicated that further clarification to the bill may be necessary but “the spirit of the bill is unchanging.” She went on to say “this legislation is to protect my constituent from an unfair taking of land”. The fifth amendment of the U.S. Constitution offers a protection against the taking of private property without just compensation. This bill is intended to ensure the State of Maryland does not violate the rights of property owners in Harford County.
As always, more information about this bill will be provided through Delegate James’ weekly email newsletter ...Continue Reading
The following letter was sent by John P. Mallamo of Bel Air:
HB 653 Real Property Tax Relief
On 25 February the Maryland General Assembly House Ways and Means Committee conducted the first reading and public hearing on HB653, Constitutional Amendment.
This Bill introduced by Del Richard Impallaria, (R-7) provides Real Property Tax Relief to all property owners and residents of Maryland. Important features of the Bill include:
1. A fixed cap on property assessments. Real Property Tax Assessments are limited to the lower of the Consumer Price Index or 2% per assessment period, unless and until a property is purchased or transferred.
2. Protection to property owners affected by government action. Property owners will not receive full cash value appraisals and increased assessments from the base value of their properties purchased as replacements for properties affected by actions resulting from ...Continue Reading
Annapolis, Md. – Harford County Senator Barry Glassman R-35 will be introducing a pair of Bills to update Maryland’s Property Taxpayers Bill of Rights
Currently, the State Department of Assessment and Taxation (“SDAT”) is receiving approximately 59,000 property tax appeals. To states falling housing market and local citizen’s awareness of the downturn in the market and the value of their homes has raised awareness on the SDAT’s current assessment procedure. Although Maryland currently has a taxpayer’s Bill of Rights, Senator Glassman wants to update some of the provisions which would allow a property tax appealer to record their local hearing, have a right to change jurisdiction when agreed upon, and agree upon a reasonable amount of time to present their case. The Senator’s legislation would also allow a property owner to receive the actual comparables and evaluation from SDAT upon the ...Continue Reading
The following letter was sent by Roy Whiteley, president of Marylanders for Fair Property Taxation, to Maryland state senators. A copy was provided to The Dagger:
Dear Senators
For the past several years, a bill has been introduced to the Budget and Taxation committee by Senator Barry Glassman and the Harford County Delegation only to be shoved in a drawer never to see the light of day or debate. It is time to change that stonewalling action. This bill needs to be acted upon by all of the Senators we elect. Many of your constituents strongly support that position. This year, as SB 458, the bill is again introduced to create a Task Force to review the property tax assessment and assessment appeals procedures. WE NEED YOUR HELP AND SUPPORT TO MAKE THIS BILL RECEIVE A FAVORABLE COMMITTEE RECOMMENDATION AND BE RELEASED TO THE FLOOR FOR ACTION BY ALL OF OUR ...Continue Reading
The following letter was sent by H. LeRoy Whiteley, Jr., president of Marylanders for Fair Property Taxation:
The March on Annapolis continues. This week Delegate Wayne Norman cross-filed HB 204 –the Task Force bill authored by Senator Barry Glassman. We need to this bill passed to have a study of the property assessment and appeals procedure performed with a positive result of a fair, equitable, unbiased, uniform, and up to date assessment system being developed so that property assessments are commensurate with actual market values.
You can find the full bill on line at www.mlis.state.md.us. Look for the scheduled hearing dateand attend the hearing. Sadly, the only way we seem to get any attention to get some elected officials to do the job they were elected to do, is to get in their face. Politicians only know numbers?? We need to fill the room to show we are serious. We will be ...Continue Reading
The following letter was sent by Roy Whiteley, president of Marylanders for Fair Property Taxation:
Hello Folks. Got your new property tax assessment notice? Happy with it?
If not, read on.
December 29, 2009
LEGISLATIVE UPDATE — STATEWIDE
Today the State mailed out new property assessment notices to 673,221 property owners while the Sunpapers screamed that home assessments fall an average of 19.7%?? That’s good news for one third of the over 2 million property owner/taxpayers. BUT what about the other two thirds of us???? Didn’t our property values decline the same as theirs???? And wasn’t it more than 19.7%???? We deserve the same reductions now??
You can do something about this inequity. Appeal your assessment now?? Go to www.dat.state.md.us and download the “Petition for Review of Real Property”. Hand deliver it tomorrow if possible. If not, the assessment offices will be closed on the deadline date December 31 for a State furlough ...Continue Reading
Aberdeen Communities Together (ACT), the grass-roots community action group largely responsible for ushering the current mayor and city council into office, is preparing to ask Aberdeen officials to take specific measures, several drastic, to reduce what they believe is are unfairly high costs of living and conducting business within the city limits.
In an email distributed this week, ACT organizers invited group members and city property owners to a meeting this Friday evening at the Aberdeen Senior Center, during which they plan on finalizing a letter to city officials laying out a plan and recommendations with the goal of “reducing the citizens’ out-of-pocket expenses.”
The letter, currently only in draft form, lists 10 suggested ways the city could reduce its expenses including “eliminating give-away programs for businesses,” reducing the number of city employees, implementing five furlough days, eliminating or restructuring the use of city vehicles, restructuring health insurance coverage and retirement systems, ...Continue Reading
The property tax appeals process is one that most people rarely get to see, unless they happen to be H. LeRoy Whiteley, Jr. Whiteley is not only the president of Marylanders for Fair Property Taxation; he regularly appeals his own property tax assessments and is in the process of such an appeal in Harford County. One step in that process involves a hearing before the local Property Tax Assessment Appeals Board (PTAAB).
As Whiteley’s December 16, 2009 hearing date approaches, he is fighting attempts by PTAAB to limit the presentation of his case. Specifically, Whiteley seeks more time to present his material and he objects to a request that he refrain from recording his own proceedings.
Ironically, Whiteley also reports that he is one of three nominees proposed by County Executive David Craig to fill two vacancies on PTAAB. Whether or not he is ultimately appointed remains to be ...Continue Reading
The following letter was distributed to members of Marylanders for Fair Property Taxation. A copy was provided to The Dagger by group president Roy Whiteley:
December 2, 2009
LEGISLATIVE UPDATE — STATEWIDE
Senator Barry Glassman has once again prepared draft legislation for introduction in the 2010 session to aid the property taxpayer. The task force bill, which we have tried for several years to have passed, has been revamped and is to be introduced at the beginning of the session. This bill when enacted will create a task force to review, evaluate the effectiveness of and recommend, adopt, and implement reforms to the property tax assessment procedure and assessment appeals process. The task force would be formed from one member of the Department of Assessments and Taxation, and one member from each of Maryland’s 23 jurisdictions. Individual members would have experience in the fields of agriculture, building construction, engineering, financial, manufacturing, real estate ...Continue Reading
(Bel Air, MD) – - In an historic move, Harford County Executive David R. Craig has signed into law Harford County Bill No. 09-20 “Homestead Credit Percentage” which will ultimately provide property tax relief for thousands of Harford County property owners. The bill, which was introduced by President Billy Boniface and several members of the Harford County Council in May, passed the council by unanimous vote earlier this week.
“With the state of our economy many families are struggling to make ends meet,” remarked County Executive Craig. “Many people affected by rising property tax assessments expressed their views to the County Council and me and we have acted accordingly,” Craig stated. “Harford County Government is smaller, we are leaner, and we will continue to seek out efficiencies in government,” the county executive commented.
During the brief bill signing ceremony, County Executive Craig commended Council President Boniface for his leadership on the issue ...Continue Reading
