Everyone, including David Edgerley, the new head of Maryland?s Department of Business and Economic Development, says Baltimore City would be great place to live for the thousands anticipated to move to Maryland as a result of the Base Realignment and Closure process. The city abounds in vacant homes that could be rehabbed, and schools shuttered from declining enrollment could reopen, promoters say. Rural counties would have to build everything from scratch and generate more traffic to clog the highways.
But the boosters, including Edgerley, offer no specific policy ideas about how to attract BRAC relocators to the city aside from vague feel-good proscriptions including identifying those, according to Edgerley, with “that urban pioneering spirit.” He also cited good branding as a way to draw new residents into the city. Edgerley?s predecessor, Aris Melissaratos, said in a recent speech the city needs to offer unexplained “incentives” to make Baltimore attractive.
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Here?s one big incentive nobody wants to talk about: Lower property taxes. Faced with high crime rates and poorly performing schools, the kind of people the city needs to expand it?s tax base ? young urban professionals and families ? have little reason to move here. Cutting taxes would give them a significant push.
At a BWI Business Partnership Breakfast Wednesday Edgerley said he is “not qualified to answer” whether lowering property taxes would help the city attract residents. Not qualified? If the Secretary of Business and Economic Development is not qualified to discuss the issue who is? Mayor Sheila Dixon must show the courage and leadership necessary to deliver lower property taxes.
That is the single most important incentive for working families to buy homes in the city.
