What a sham. After voting to halt a planned 2-cent reduction in the property tax rate, Baltimore City Council President Stephanie Rawlings-Blake created a task force to review reducing the most onerous rate in Maryland.
“This new Special Committee will lead our efforts in Baltimore to address this complex issue and turn thoughtful ideas and recommendations into concrete legislation,” she said in a statement.
Hello, anybody home? The youthful Rawlings-Blake seems to be having a senior moment. How else could she forget the December 2007 report of Mayor Sheila Dixon?s Blue Ribbon Committee on Taxes and Fees?
We would be happy to send her a copy and to summarize its findings: “Many believe that the high property tax rate serves as a disincentive for residents and businesses to locate in the City of Baltimore; the Committee is convinced that is the case.”
A 31-member panel of esteemed citizens including co-chairmen City Comptroller Joan Pratt and Joseph T. “Jody” Landers III, executive vice president of the Greater Baltimore Board of Realtors; Mayo Shattuck, president, chairman and CEO of Constellation Energy; and Atwood Collins III, executive vice president of M&T Bank ? people not known for their desire to waste time ? spent eight months regularly meeting on the issue.
Their recommendations include reducing the tax rate, now more than double other municipalities, by 10 percent over the next two years and eventually slicing it by 32 percent. They also suggest a number of offsets, including higher income and hotel taxes and adding casino gambling. Those options would not be necessary if Rawlings-Blake and other members of the City Council demanded that spending reflect revenue, refused to authorize “emergency” payments for overtime abuses at the police and fire departments, and stopped turning a blind eye to the millions in unbudgeted spending authorized by the city-owned Industrial Development Association.
Don?t waste our money on another task force. And don?t insult panel members by disregarding their hard work. Doing so undermines confidence in government and makes it more likely that those with the stature to really help the city will refuse requests to do so based on the rational conclusion that their efforts will mean nothing.
Her announcement is the worst form of political expediency. Dissolve the Special Committee and promise to cut taxes for the 2010 budget, madame council president. It is the only thing that will restore your credibility.
