Paying to live in Harford County, one of its three municipalities or Cecil County's Port Deposit or Perryville can have varying impacts on a homeowner's wallet. That will be illustrated again when the annual tax bills are delivered to property owners in the next few weeks.
Almost all the jurisdictions have kept their property tax rates the same in recent years, but the amounts of those taxes still vary from town to town.
The City of Aberdeen was notable this year for being alone in cutting its property tax rate – by 2 cents, from 68 cents per $100 of assessed value to 66 cents.
Mayor Mike Bennett and City Manager Doug Miller have attributed that to the projected revenue from the 6 percent hotel and motel lodging tax passed earlier this year by Harford County, which is set to affect Aberdeen in particular because of its large number of hotels.
The Town of Bel Air's property tax rate is staying the same for Fiscal Year 2016, at 50 cents per $100 of assessed value, and Havre de Grace's will also remain at 56 cents.
Aberdeen has approximately 15,100 residents, Bel Air 10,300 and Havre de Grace 13,500, according to the most recent U.S. Census estimates.
Harford County property tax rates remain unchanged for 2016, with a base real property tax rate of 89.37 cents. Everyone outside the three municipalities also pays a highway tax, or differential, of 14.83 cents for a total tax rate of $1.042.
In Cecil County, Port Deposit's real property tax rate was set at $0.5510, a slight decrease from the $0.5544 in Fiscal Year 2015, Finance Manager Ted Sookiasian said.
He said part of the reason for that decrease was the town raised its public utility tax rate, Port Deposit's version of a personal property tax rate, from 2 percent to 2.2 percent per $100 of property value. The tax is imposed on utilities, railroads and major companies, he said. About 860 people live in the town.
Just down the road, the Town of Perryville has the lowest real property tax rate in the area, at $0.3130 per $100 of assessed real property value. That rate will remain the same for Fiscal Year 2016; it was lowered by $0.0006 from Fiscal Year 2014.
That unusually low rate is mostly attributed to the local impact revenue the town receives from Hollywood Casino, set up within its borders in 2010. The town, which has approximately 4,400 residents, receives a portion of the take from the casino, as does Cecil County.
As the state's first casino, Hollywood's impact has tapered off in recent years, but Perryville has still been budgeting roughly $1.2 million in revenue from the gambling facility, town finance director Rachel Deaner said.
"The casino really has helped us," she said, calling the impact "steady" although "it did drop a little bit from when it opened."
Another casino is scheduled to open in Prince George's County during 2016, which could affect Perryville's next budget.
"Every time a new casino opens up, our revenue changes," Deaner said.
Nevertheless, she added, town leaders also "self-cut ourselves" on taxes and ''we are trying to be fair to the townspeople as well."
Water rates
Water and sewer rates also vary widely based on individual circumstances, and a few will be going up for Fiscal Year 2016.
The Havre de Grace City Council approved a surcharge this month that would charge residential and commercial water and sewer customers at least $25 each quarter, based on water use.
The council hopes the move will generate an extra $500,000 in revenue annually toward the debt service in its water and sewer fund.
Harford County's water and sewer rates are set to rise by 1.6 percent, based on the yearly increase in the Consumer Price Index, county government spokesperson Cindy Mumby said Thursday.
The current base water charge is $6.46, plus a rate of $2.60 per 1,000 gallons used. The base charge for sewer use is $6, plus $3.31 per 1,000 gallons of water use. The county has not yet published the new rate tables on its website.
The Town of Bel Air's base sewer rates are expected to increase 1.6 percent, in line with the county increase, because Bel Air's sewage is treated by the county. The base rate for a typical residential customer with a 3/8-inch meter is $7.77, according to the current town rate schedule.
The town's quarterly base sewer usage rate is scheduled to rise 6.1 percent, from $5.57 to $5.91 per 1,000 gallons of water usage, as part of the FY 2016 budget approved last month.
In addition to a 1.6 percent CPI-based increase, Bel Air's usage rate will have a 25-cent per $1,000 gallon increase required by Harford County to cover the cost of enhanced nutrient removal, town Finance Director Lisa Moody said in May.
Moody estimated Monday that the typical quarterly sewer bill will increase about $3.50 with the planned increases.
Bel Air is alone among Harford County jurisdictions in having its water supplied by a private company, Maryland American Water, which recently received approval to raise its residential and commercial rates, effective June 19.
According to the company, a typical residential customer's monthly bill will increase $4.86 from $37.53 to $42.39, approximately 13 percent. Maryland American serves about 4,700 residential, commercial and institutional customers inside the Bel Air town limits and in parts of Forest Hill and along the Route 1 corridor between Bel Air and Fallston. About 1,550 customers are outside the town.
Aberdeen's quarterly water rates and sanitary sewer use rates are staying the same, with water rates of $15.23 for the first 3,500 gallons or fewer and $4.60 for each additional 1,000 gallons. Users are also charged $19.57 for the first 3,500 gallons of sewage and $5.58 for each additional 1,000 gallons of water use.
Perryville set two-year escalating water and sewer rates that are entering their second year. Both rates will rise from a base of $14.06 for 3,000 gallons to $14.62 in 2016.
The town also includes a water charge of $8.80 per 1,000 gallons over the minimum and a $6.92 sewer charge per 1,000 gallons over the minimum for 2016.
Port Deposit's rates, which are set by Artesian Water Maryland, Inc., a private company providing service to most of Cecil County, are $6.17 per 1,000 gallons with a 10,000 gallon minimum usage charge per quarter.