The incoming mayor, Stephanie C. Rawlings-Blake, could have a tremendous impact on improving the city's housing market by committing to lowering property taxes and pushing for a land bank authority to help the city get control of vacant homes, said Joseph T. "Jody" Landers III, executive vice president of the Greater Baltimore Board of Realtors.
The city has seen its tax base erode as it struggles to compete with the declining home prices and lower tax rate of the surrounding counties, Landers said.
"The tax rate for Baltimore City just really puts a damper on the resale market in a lot of ways," Landers said, with city buyers in the $300,000 to $400,000 range facing annual tax bills of $6,000 to $8,000.
Even if large reductions in Baltimore's property tax rate prove impossible, he said, he would hope to see an incremental approach, with a commitment to reduce the rate by 2 cents to 3 cents each year.
"It's very tough to maintain that, but it gives people some hope and sends out a signal that the city is serious about trying to reduce the property tax," Landers said.
Mayor Sheila Dixon had proposed a land bank, a quasi-governmental agency to take control of most city-owned vacant properties and market them to buyers or investors to renovate, streamlining what is now a lengthy process. But the proposal never moved ahead.
"The city continues to lose population and the number of vacant properties goes up, and a land bank offers a possibility of getting control over that," Landers said. "If the city could put a land bank in place, it would be one of the single most important pieces of legislation in the last 30 to 40 years."
As mayor, he said, Rawlings-Blake also should build on progress the city has made in reducing property crime in neighborhoods and improving the school system with a focus on charter schools as a way to attract residents and boost the city's tax base.
And, finally, Landers said he hopes she will support continued investments in city parks and open space.
"Studies show property values in and around well-maintained parkland are higher than property values," without such amenities nearby, he said.
HER RECORD
Rawlings-Blake has been supportive of housing efforts such as the Healthy Neighborhood Initiative, which provides low-interest financing to homeowners for repairs and renovations in selected neighborhoods. But as City Council president, she indicated that she had misgivings about establishing a land bank. She had proposed changes to ensure that the property in the land bank would revert to the city if the buying entity were to dissolve.