As previously reported on Conduit Street, an IDOT Study Group was established in July by the State Department of Assessments and Taxation(SDAT) pursuant to Senate Bill 1302 of the 2012 special session, State and Local Revenue and Financing Act of 2012.   After months of meetings, the group met today, December 3, to review data collected and compiled by the local government representatives on the study group and talk through the first draft of the group’s final report.

Besides summarizing the legislation that created the study group and its process, the final report will summarize findings from each of the surveys conducted by the Maryland Bankers Association, the Maryland Chapter of the NAIOP Commercial Real Estate Development Corporation, the Homebuilders Association of Maryland, and the local government economic development community.

To determine the fiscal impact for local governments of applying the recordation tax to indemnity mortgages and deeds of trust, the State Archives provided data that allowed the local government representatives to compare the number of commercial transactions between August 1 and October 30, 2012, with August 1 and October 30, 2011 for selected jurisdictions.  An analysis of this information, including the number of transactions, the total consideration,and recordation taxes paid for each period will also be included in the final report.

The Study Group plans to finalize the report at its last meeting on December 10 at 2:00 p.m. in Room L-2 Conference Room, 201 W. Preston St.,  Baltimore, MD.