ANNAPOLIS, Md. — The state of Maryland has a big tax problem on its hands. This year, thousands of property owners did not get the right property tax bill, which could throw off town and county budgets.
It has left lawmakers in Annapolis scrambling to fix it before budgets have to be slashed.
In Maryland every year, about a third of every property owner gets an updated property tax bill assessment. Based on that, they pay taxes for the next 3 years. Those taxes directly fund local budgets.
But this year, 100,000 properties did not get their new tax bill and the deadline to correct it has passed.
According to the State’s Department of Assessment and Taxation it could mean a loss of roughly $31 million this year that would have gone to state, county and town budgets. If it’s not corrected, the loss would stand for the next two budget cycles.
In the DMV, Prince George's County had the most lost assessments with more than 16,600. Not far behind, in Montgomery County more than 9,800 properties did not get their updated values.
Officials in both counties said they do not know how this will affect their budgets, but Prince George’s County Council Chair Jolene Ivey said they can’t spare any dollars in their next budget.
“We already have a budget deficit in Prince George’s County with $171 million and that’s without having this issue,” Ivey said.
So, how did this happen?
According to the State’s Department of Assessments and Taxation, or SDAT, the vendor that sends out the bills had an error in their process. That error resulted in a little more than 100,000 assessments not getting mailed.
That vendor Baltimore’s League for People with Disabilities has sent out the assessments for a decade without issues. WUSA9 reached out to their management, but they were not available for comment.
An SDAT official said the vendor will send out updated assessments in the coming weeks. But for that to be legal, SDAT has to work with the General Assembly in Annapolis to extend the deadline for assessments, so people can pay those bills.
“The good news is this can be fixed,” Ivey said. “Our leadership in Annapolis has got it in hand they’re gonna make sure this is taken care of.”
Leaders in Montgomery County sent a statement with a similar sentiment.
“We are glad to hear that the Maryland General Assembly is committed to fixing this mistake that could potentially result in the loss of millions of dollars in revenue to County taxpayers," the statement read.
It will be up to lawmakers in Annapolis to make sure this property tax nightmare does not become a reality for local governments.
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