WICOMICO COUNTY HOMEOWNERS: HOW ABOUT LOWER PROPERTY TAXES?

During a work session after its regular meeting on Tuesday, the Wicomico County Council discussed whether the County should allow a “homestead tax credit” against the property tax as most other Maryland counties and the City of Salisbury have done pursuant to the state law. There was no initiative to proceed, although it appears that several Republican members support doing so.

The credit would protect a resident homeowner against future increase in the County’s property tax due to increase in the value placed on his or her home by the tax assessor. The benefit of the tax credit can be seen by comparing the tax on homes in Salisbury that have had the credit against the City’s property tax since the credit was adopted nearly twenty years ago. Salisbury’s tax rate is now higher than the County’s rate, but the tax credit serves to reduce the City tax in many cases to a much lower amount than the County’s tax on the same home. Even with the recent reduction in assessed value, homeowners in Salisbury continue to receive significant reduction as a result of the credit that the City allows.

Twenty of Maryland’s twenty-three counties provide the Homestead tax credit, including the following counties on the Eastern Shore: Caroline, Dorchester, Kent, Queen Anne’s, Talbot and Worcester. The county with the same tax revenue cap as here (Talbot) has extended the full credit to homeowners there. In the past, two members of the Wicomico County Council – Joe Holloway and Stevie Prettyman – have pushed for the Homestead Tax Credit.

Apparently the County Executive, Rick Pollitt, and the Democrat members of the Council do not support the credit. It’s time for change.