In recent weeks, several Baltimore homeowners have contacted The Baltimore Sun with this question: How come we're not seeing quite as large a tax cut as the mayor promised? Didn't the city cut the property tax rate to $2.131 for every $100 of assessed value last year?
The short answer is: Sort of.
City officials have said that the tax rate for owner-occupied homes is now $2.131 for every $100 of assessed value. But that's not exactly true. The tax rate remains at $2.248 for every $100 of assessed property value. But last year, officials approved a tax credit for owner-occupied homes of 18 cents for every $100 of improved assessed value — the latest in a series of increases to that credit.
These credits mean that properties with higher-value improvements get more in tax credits, while those with lower-value improvements get less. The figure of $2.131 is a city-calculated average of the functional tax rate for owner-occupied homes, officials say.
Since she became mayor in 2010, Stephanie Rawlings-Blake's administration has lowered this average functional property tax rate for owner-occupied homes by about 6 percent. Baltimore's property tax rate remains about twice as high as the surrounding counties.
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