A Public Hearing will be held at 7:00 p.m. on May 18, 2009 at the County Office Complex, Room 111, 11916 Somerset Avenue, Princess Anne.
Questions?? (410) 651-0320
Since the new assessments raised the assessable tax base, the County will retain the current tax rate of $0.920 per $100 of assessment. Tax revenue will increase by 7.6% adding over $1,000,000 of NEW real property tax revenues!! The rate should be reduced to $0.855, the constant yield rate. At a time when fiscal responsibility is more important than ever, the County must show fiscal responsibility. If millions had not been spent on a marina and park for the most rural and poorest county in Maryland, the tax payers could have had some tax relief.
The County Commissioneers for Somerset County propose to increase property taxes.
1. For the tax year beginning July 1, 2009, the estimated real property assessable base will increase by 7.6%, from $1,454,073,658 to $1,564,662,882.
2. If Somerset County maintains the current tax rate of $0.920 per $100 of assessment, real property tax revenues will increase by 7.6% resulting in $1,017,421 of new real property tax revenues.
3. In order to fully offset the effect of increasing assessments, the real property tax rate should be reduced to $0.855, the constant yiels rate.
4. The County is considering not reducing its real property tax rate enough to fully offset increasing assessments. The County proposes to adopt a real property tax rate of $.920 per $100 of assessments. This tax rate is 7.6% higher than the constant yield tax rate and will generate $1,017,421 in additional property tax revenues.
A Public Hearing on the proposed real property tax rate increase will be held at 7:00 p.m. on May 18, 2009 at the County Office Complex, Room 111, 11916 Somerset Avenue, Princess Anne, Maryland 21853.
The Hearing is open to the public, and public testimony is encouraged.
Persons with questions regarding this hearing may call (410) 651-0320 for further information.
13 comments:
Thats alot better that the town of princess anne raising the tax rate almost 12% plus the 7.6% assesment increase bringing the increase to almost 20% in one year. Also this will make the towns tax rate 3.4 cents higher then the countys
Stop complaining and attend the hearing!
Tell the comissioners how you feel.
If you don't go, don't complain.
You are correct 10:20. Everyone needs to attend the hearing on the 19th and express their outrage with this increase. Everyone I know is having to cut back on their expenses. Government should have to do the same. The two million spent this past year on a marina and park would have been more than enough to make this increase unnessasary. Additionally by acquiring the marina and park land, we no longer collect taxes on that property. What are the commissioners thinking? The voters want smaller government, not more empire building.
Increases in this economic enviroment is ludicrous. Wake up people and demand fiscal responsibility. Elected officials will listen if they think their decisions will effect their reelection. Let your voices be heard.
The money for the marina was given to the county from the state thru project openspace specifically to purchase the marina and land. There is nothing else that they could have done with it except give it back. As far as taking it off the tax base they will actually make more off of the slip rentals then they recieved in property taxes and I understand that there is already a waiting list for the slips. Slips and boat ramps will be paid for thru maryland boat sticker money.
12:06, I see that you are of the believe that openspace money is free money. I would remind you that state money is also tax money and the last thing I heard is that Maryland is also broke. Part of property taxes does go directly to the state in case you didn't know that. I also noticed that you didn't mention the wasted money spent for the so called park. I understand the plan is to build a museum to display a bunch of old farm equipment on this same property. I would also suggest that the state didn't just give the money to Somerset, Somerset asked for it.
In this weeks newspaper we have 453 properties that will be auctioned off at the annual tax sale in June. These good people cannot afford to pay their taxes now and the commissioners want to increase the present rate by 7.6%. Where is the logic? Have they lost their minds? I hope people are as outraged as I am and will attend the May 19th meeting and protest this increase. I agree with others that the first priority should be to cut spending and sell off county property, not buy more.
3:37,I am well aware that part of your property taxes go to the state it is the part on your tax bill that says state prop tax. That rate is set by the state and your assesment not by the county. So I guess you think that if the county had not used the money for the marina or the sports park for kids recreation that o'mally would have sent it back to you in a refund. You would have still paid the same amount and some other county would have recieved the benefits of your tax dollars. Some people can't see the forest for the trees.
I can see the forest very well
5:41. It's called wasting the tax payers money at all levels. I think O'Malley as well as Obama and elected officials at every level including city should stop spending money on ALL unnessasary purchases. Taking land out of the tax base is not a smart thing to do and it doesn't take a genious to figure that out. If you like paying higher taxes, that is fine with me, just write a check and send it to the government but frankly we are taxed to much and it's all because of the out of control spending. By the way I'm sure the kids will really enjoy looking at all of the junk farm equipment. I haven't seen any mention of where the money will come from to construct the museum but I suspect some of the new 1,000,000 dollal tax increase will be used for that purpose.
12:06 may be surprised to learn that Somers Cove Marina in Crisfield has such a huge vacancy rate that Dr. Lloyd Tyler ran an open house offering discounted boat slips this year. Annapolis marinas also report high vacancy rates.
Government only gets involved in loosing business enterprises when the savvy private sector businessman opt out.
Fiscal Responsibility should apply to government as well as citizens.
People are already having trouble paying their taxes-just look at the local papers at all the properties listed for tax sale.Its awful.
I agree blutojthetotmon. There are several from the Deal Island area on the list to be auctioned. I guess the people down there had rather have a boat slip than a home. At least that is what the commissioners must think. Is anyone going to the hearing on the 19th? These people will listen if they think their decision will cost them votes.
What must be demanded of the Commissioners at the meeting on Tuesday the 19th, is a report on their property tax actions over, for example, the past 5 and 10 years. This certainly is not the first time that they have reportedly “held the line” on the property tax rate, but actually have increased taxes due to the State’s higher property assessments. Thus, an honest look at the current 7.6% tax issue should include the commissioners’ total property tax increase over the past 5 and 10 years. What has the resulting, greatly increased County tax base been used to fund? Certainly, one would believe a larger, inefficient, bureaucratic, county government. A case in point, for example, would be the County’s current, greatly overstaffed Planning and Zoning office. This office has not appropriately reduced staff in keeping with our current economic crisis, which, requires that this office be only minimally staffed. Yes, and it is well known that the first individual out the door should be the one who spends most of his day asleep at his desk! And, why aren’t the Commissioners, instead of raising taxes, demanding that the State immediately reassess Somerset County properties that are plagued with higher assessments - when it is well known that property values across the nation have fallen an average of 30 percent? On the other hand, this is just wishful thinking as one is reminded that we live in the good ole boy (GOB) county. Here, anything goes as long as you are a GOB, including the filling in of marshland (a federal and state offense) over the last 20 years by one well placed Somerset GOB - under the ever watchful eyes of numerous commissioners, County managers and Planning and Zoning Office employees. It is certainly sweet, safe and rewarding to be a Somerset County GOB!
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