The Carroll County Board of Commissioners have approved the transfer of $2.2 million to the eight municipalities within the county as part of revenue sharing agreements to offset for taxes paid by residents for an overlap of services.

As reported by the Carroll County Times,

Residents of municipalities pay both county and local taxes, resulting in residents of municipalities paying the county for services that are provided by the municipality, said Ted Zaleski, director of the Department of Management and Budget, during an interview last week. While the state requires counties to either give the tax differential back to town residents or to send money to the municipal governments in recognition of this overlap, Carroll’s policy was established decades ago and predates Maryland law, Zaleski said.

The “size of the pot” grows based on population and inflation, Zaleski said. The amount that each municipal government receives is determined by each municipality’s assessable tax base, which changes relative to each other, he said.

“So if one grows and the other seven get smaller, the seven get a larger share of the pot and the other one would get less,” Zaleski said. “It’s a wealth equalization kind of approach.”

Municipalities are not required to spend the funds for a specific purpose, but they usually go towards providing services to residents living in the municipality.