Charles Village residents have decided -- by more than a 2-1 margin -- to become the first city neighborhood to pay extra property taxes to keep their streets clean and hire security guards for patrols.
"Charles Village wins," Michael W. Howard, a leader in the effort to create the Charles Village Community Benefits District, said yesterday after city officials tallied votes from the recent referendum.
"The neighborhood has spoken; they're willing to give us a try, and now the work begins for us to prove this is a good idea."
More than 7,000 ballots were mailed in October to neighborhood residents and property owners, and 1,752 were returned by the Nov. 18 deadline.
The ballots were counted by the city board of elections, with 1,022 for the proposal and 542 against. Nearly 200 ballots were thrown out for technical reasons.
Grenville B. Whitman, who lives in the 3100 block of Guilford Ave., said he and other opponents would meet to decide whether to challenge the vote in court.
"This just shows what $30,000 will do to unbalance a vote," he said, referring to money the city gave the Greater Homewood Community Corp. to educate residents about the plan.
The measure boosts the property tax from $5.85 to $6.15 on each $100 of assessed value in a 100-block area of Charles Village, South Charles Village and a small part of Waverly. That will add $25 to $150 to each homeowner's tax bill. Businesses could pay hundreds of dollars more.
Proponents expect the plan to raise about $400,000, which can be added to a $100,000 donation from the Johns Hopkins University and money raised from other sources. The funds will be used to hire a 12-person private security force, three people to keep the area clean and an administrator to oversee the program.
The special tax district is modeled after the Downtown Partnership, which began in 1992. Owners of commercial property in Baltimore's central business district are taxed an extra 23 cents per $100 of the assessed value of their property to fight "crime and grime."
The Charles Village Community Benefits District includes about 10,000 residents: 52 percent white, 38 percent black and 8 percent Asian.
The spark leading to the special tax district was the 1990 slaying of David Gordon, a 25-year-old employee of the Whitman, Requardt and Associates engineering and architecture firm. He was shot during a robbery attempt in the company parking lot at St. Paul and East 24th streets.
Mayor Kurt L. Schmoke had initially expressed reservations about the proposal, saying it could lead to "Balkanization of the city," with services based on a community's ability to pay for them. But earlier this year, he supported a measure calling for a referendum.
"I still view it as an experiment," Mr. Schmoke said yesterday. "I think we ought to proceed with caution. But the Charles Village people have done a really outstanding job in the planning and what they intend to use the money for is pretty clear, so I would like to see how it goes and then report to the legislature on it before we move ahead and try to have any more districts."
The state legislation that allowed the tax district referendum calls for the program to be reviewed after three years before being continued. An interim steering committee of community leaders must develop a spending plan within three months.
Other neighborhoods where residents have expressed an interest in special tax districts include Bolton Hill, Ashburton and Roland Park.