Anne Arundel County Executive John R. Leopold recently announced two initiatives — which together have raised more than $10 million — that he says will help the county avoid tax increases.
"Instead of relying on tax increases, this administration has used creative methods to help balance the budget in difficult fiscal times by cutting spending and identifying new revenue sources," Leopold said in a statement.
Since April 2009, when the County Council passed legislation requiring insurance companies to pay $500 per ambulance transport, the county has generated $8.5 million in fees for ambulance service. The county provides more than 40,000 ambulance transports annually, costing nearly $100 million, including personnel, training and equipment. The payments to the county average about $525,000 monthly. County residents don't pay any portion of the fee that isn't covered by insurance.
And in the past two years, Anne Arundel County has recovered $2 million in delinquent personal and commercial property tax payments, county officials announced last week.
The county Office of Law and the Office of Finance have teamed up on the effort, writing letters to delinquent residents and seeking to recover the funds through court filings and the use of a collections firm, according to county officials.
In fiscal year 2010, more than $1.6 million in personal and commercial property taxes was recovered. In the first six months of the current fiscal year, the figure was nearly $435,000.