Baltimore City’s Mayor Catherine Pugh and City Council Members have agreed on a plan that would generate approximately $20 million for the City’s affordable housing trust fund.
The Baltimore Sun reports:
Pugh and City Council leaders agreed to levy two excise taxes on certain real estate transactions and other allocations to fund a trust to create, rehabilitate and preserve more than 4,100 affordable housing units in the next decade.
…
The agreement calls for excise taxes on the transfer and the recording taxes on real estate sales exceeding $1 million. The excise taxes are estimated to generate $13 million a year. On top of that, the mayor has agreed to allocate $2 million to $7 million annually that, by fiscal 2023, would provide a total of $20 million a year to the trust.
As previously covered on Conduit Street, the affordable housing trust fund was approved in 2016 but had no designated source of funding. Council Member John Bullock introduced a bill earlier this year proposing to raise taxes on certain property sales to help fund the trust.
The Sun article notes that parts of the agreement reached between city officials are likely to be amended into Bullock’s bill. Council President Jack Young intends to pass the bill by the end of the year with an expectation that it would go into effect January 1 following the Mayor’s signature. Additional details will be worked out in the meantime.
Read The Baltimore Sun to learn more.
Prior coverage from Conduit Street:
