On February 6. 2024, MACo Legislative Director Kevin Kinnally testified before the House Ways and Means Committee in support of HB 243- Property Tax- Tax Sales- Revisions with amendments. The bill requires local governments to withhold specified properties from tax sales, alters redemption rates for properties sold at tax sale, and adds new record-keeping requirements.
This bill generally makes wholesale changes to Maryland’s tax sale process. MACo seeks amendments to address administrative hurdles and awkward implementation that render the current bill unworkable for county governments, which must conduct tax sales under state law.
In addition, the bill requires counties to withhold owner-occupied properties from tax sale if the taxes on the property consist only of a lien for unpaid charges for water and sewer service. It is worth noting that counties have no other enforcement mechanism to collect unpaid water and sewer charges and that such properties, in many cases, would merely continue to accrue unpaid charges, taxes, and fees until the new $1,000 threshold is reached. MACo urges the Committee to pay careful attention to this provision, as counties are concerned that this creates an additional and unwelcome burden on the property owner, as the amount necessary to pay the eventual tax lien increases accordingly.
HB 243 was heard in the opposite chamber, the Senate Budget and Taxation Committee, on March 26. MACo submitted testimony in support of this bill with amendments.
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