The Queen Anne’s County Commissioners have approved an ordinance to raise the homestead tax credit percentage by 5 percent for the purposes of calculating the Homestead Property Tax Credit based on property tax assessments. Ordinance 11-04 was introduced by Commissioner Steven Arentz in July and passed last week by a vote of 3-2. The Star Democrat reports:
For the 2011 Fiscal Year, under the Homestead Property Tax Credit, any increase in the assessed value is not included in the taxable base of the property. Under the new ordinance, the effective rate will be 105 percent for FY2012, effective July 1, 2012, up from 100 percent in FY2011. Established long-term residents will see their taxes go up a maximum of 5 percent each year.
Assessments are expected to go down as a result of the real estate downturn, so the only residents affected will be those that have not yet reached their assessed value due to the limitations of former homestead tax credits.
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Jonathan Seeman, the county’s director of budget and finance, said that with the 5 percent increase, the county would gain roughly $1 million.
“We know that most (assessments) are not going up,” said Seeman. “We’ve done a calculation and determined that there are really probably only about four percent of county residents who this would even affect because obviously assessments are going down.”
Seeman said those residents would see an average increase of about $130.
