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Tax Relief for High Assessments

For many years, Calvert County struggled with the effects of being the fastest growing county in the state.  Annual residential growth rates in the 6% range necessitated the building of one new school per year at a cost of millions of dollars, while much of the other infrastructure, like roads, the jail, law enforcement staff, the library, and many others could not keep up.  Finally, due to aggressive action on the part of the County Commissioners, the residential growth rate has slowed to approximately 2% annually and the school enrollment growth for the last year was 9/10ths of one percent (.9 %).  All this residential growth management occurred while more land is being preserved in Calvert County than is being developed!

The rules of supply and demand are also working overtime.  As the supply of new homes goes down, the demand goes up.  The result is as expected:  increasing retail prices and increasing assessed fair market values of homes.  What is a homeowner whose income has not risen in tandem with assessments to do?  How can property taxes be afforded?  

One answer is the County’s extension of the Maryland Homeowner Tax Credit.  This effort to keep owner-occupied homes affordable requires an application, which can be obtained from the courthouse in Prince Frederick.  The county’s criteria, which is more liberal than the state’s for the county portion of the property taxes, is an income of $50,000 or less and a net worth of $200,000 or less excluding the value of the home and the value of any retirement plans.  The county credit is applied to the first $400,000 of assessed value.  The amount of the credit is higher the lower the income.  

Even if you are certain that this new tax relief measure does not apply to your particular income and net worth figures, please encourage any one you know who may qualify to submit the application and find out for sure if they are eligible for the credit.   Those homeowners on fixed or low incomes are helped the most.  It would be a shame, indeed, if a Calvert family lost their home due to lack of knowledge of and failure to apply for a homeowner tax credit for which they may qualify.  

Your efforts to spread the word—through churches or other civic organizations to which you belong—will be a worthwhile contribution to our community and its high quality of life.  Thank you for your help!!

Susan Shaw,
Calvert County Commissioner

Submitted to Calvert Life Monthly