Baltimore County Executive Jim Smith proposed a property tax credit for low-income families and senior citizens in his annual budget message Wednesday, offering to help more homeowners and spend more than a County Council-sponsored bill introduced earlier provided.
Worried many seniors are getting taxed out of the homes they?ve lived in for years, Council Members T. Bryan McIntire, R-3, and John Olszewski, D-7, last week proposed a property tax credit for residents 65 and older who meet the eligibility requirements of a newly adopted state tax credit. The program would cost the county $1 million.
But Smith?s offer drops the age specifications and relaxes the financial eligibility, opening a credit to more people at a $3 million cost to the county. McIntire said Wednesday that he suspected his bill served as inspiration for Smith?s proposal, which was delivered in the Democratic executive?s final budget message of his four-year term.
“Is it one-upmanship? You can decide that,” McIntire said.
Under McIntire?s bill, qualified seniors could receive $160 in the program?s first year. The credit would be adjusted annually for inflation and would supplement the state?s credit, which applies to homeowners who have a household income of $60,000 or less and a net worth of $200,000 or less.
Smith?s credit would be based on income and property value, that, combined with the county?s 4 percent tax assessment cap already in place, could save homeowners $70 million in property taxes next year. As a new program, he must draft his proposal as a bill for the county?s approval.
Property assessments in Baltimore County climbed an average of 18 percent last year, and tax relief could be a hot campaign issue.
