The General Assembly is moving on a number of bills which give counties more flexibility to provide property tax breaks. None of the bills listed below set any mandates on counties, but rather, provide broader leeway to provide tax breaks as appropriate for their jurisdictions.

Bills MACo Supported

The House has passed HB 1323 – Property Tax – Credit for Revitalization Districts, a bill MACo supported with would authorize local governments to grant optional property tax credits to homeowners who make improvements to their homes in specified “revitalization districts.” Local governments have authority to define what a “revitalization district” is and where to designate them.

The House has also passed House Bill 351, Property Tax – Homestead Property Tax Credit Percentage and Constant Yield Tax Rate – Deadlines. This bill extends the deadline for local governments to set or change their homestead property tax credit percentage, moving it from November to March. MACo supported the bill.

Other Bills Passed Out of The House

MACo did not take a position on the following bills, which have passed the House and will be heard by the Senate Budget & Taxation Committee:

HB 231 Property Tax Credit – Disabled or Fallen Law Enforcement Officers and Rescue
Workers – Alteration authorizes counties to extend an existing property tax credit for dwellings owned by the surviving spouse of a fallen law enforcement officer or rescue worker to include the fallen officer’s cohabitant.

HB 979 – Property Tax Credit – Public Safety Officers authorizes county governments to grant, by local law, a property tax credit for a dwelling owned by a firefighter, an emergency medical technician, a correctional officer, a police officer, or a deputy sheriff employed full time by a public safety agency in the county where the individual resides. County governments may establish, by law, the amount of the property tax credit, the duration of the property tax credit, and additional eligibility requirements for public safety officers to qualify for the property tax credit.

HB 1234 – Property Tax – Credit for Retired Military Service Members – Eligibility alters the eligibility criteria of a local option property tax credit for specified members of the U.S. Armed Forces by specifying that eligible individuals must be members of the uniformed services of the United States as defined by 10 U.S.C. Section 101, the military reserves, or the National Guard.

Bills Passed By The Senate

The Senate has passed a few property tax credit bills as well. These bills will cross over to the House Ways & Means Committees for hearings. MACo did not take positions on these bills.

SB 108 – Property Tax Credit – Erosion Control Measures – Nonstructural and Structural Shoreline Stabilization alters the requirements for a local option property tax credit for specified erosion control structures.

SB 261 – Property Tax Credit – Residential Property Damaged by Natural Disaster alters a local option property tax credit for property that has suffered flood or sewage damage by including damage caused by a natural disaster.

SB 282 – Property Tax Credit – Disabled or Fallen Law Enforcement Officers and Rescue Workers – Alterations increases the number of years, from 2 to 10, within which a disabled law enforcement officer or rescue worker or the surviving spouse of a fallen law enforcement officer or rescue worker must have acquired specified residential property in order to qualify for a specified local option property tax credit.

SB 601 – Property Tax Credit – Elderly Individuals and Veterans – Eligibility broadly alters the eligibility criteria for a local option property tax credit for elderly individuals by removing the requirement that the individual must have lived in the same dwelling for at least the preceding 40 years. In lieu of this existing requirement, the bill provides that the individual must have lived in the county for the preceding 25 years and the dwelling for which the tax credit is claimed must be located in that county.

Follow MACo’s advocacy on these and other tax bills by clicking here.