The U.S. Army and developers of its Maryland installations would rather pay a large up-front sum to local governments than taxes over time, officials said.
Officials testified before a joint House committee hearing Wednesday on a bill that would create special taxing districts and promote payments in lieu of taxes? known as PILOT ? for areas affected by the Base Realignment and Closure expansion.
The bill, drafted by Gov. Martin O?Malley, calls for optional PILOT agreements between private developers of Army property and local governments. If that fails, the developer would be subject to state and county property taxes.
But developers and Army officials said the bill lacks incentives for local governments to work out a deal when they could push for long-term tax revenue. They want the PILOT agreement to be mandatory, but developers say they are not opposed to taxation.
“They could just simply turn around and provide little to no service,” said Mark Corneal, vice president of Trammell Crow, which is developing more than 500 acres at Fort Meade.
Fort Meade in Anne Arundel and Aberdeen Proving Ground in Harford are expected to see thousands of BRAC-related jobs by 2011, many of which will come through privately developed offices on fort property, known as enhanced-use leases.
Anne Arundel officials have pushed for a PILOT agreement, saying the up-front money is needed to improve roads around Fort Meade. Officials have said those roads will becongested when the BRAC influx occurs, but won?t see expansion until four years after the expansion.
“We believe this would be a great help to the Odenton Town Center [project] … which will cost $20 million to $30 million for infrastructure improvements,” said Bob Hannon, president of the Anne Arundel Economic Development Corporation.
