Garrett County is holding a hearing on its proposed 2024 property tax rate on Monday, May 1 at 4:00 PM in the Garrett County Court House – Room 209.
On January 10, the POA sent an eBlast about the potential tax impact of the significantly increased property assessments homeowners had recently received. That eBlast explained the process as follows:
The View from Thirty Thousand Feet – There are three main portions of the process
The State sets the appraised value of each property – this valuation is appealable within 45 days of the Notice of Assessment as discussed below.
For each taxing jurisdiction, the SDAT sets what is known as a Constant Yield Tax Rate which is the tax rate that would provide the same revenue as the prior year at the newly assessed values. This will occur by February 15.
Using the assessed values provided by the State the counties set their tax rate for the next year. If the rate set exceeds the CYTR the jurisdiction must provide notice and an opportunity for hearings before enacting the rate. This occurred for Garrett County on May 6 of last year.
THE CURRENT PROPOSAL FOR GARRETT COUNTY
- The county tax rate is currently $1.056 per $100 assessment
- If the current rate is kept, revenue increases by 9.4%
- If constant yield is maintained, the rate would drop to $0.9652
- THE COUNTY PROPOSAL IS TO NOT MAINTAIN THE CONSTANT YIELD AND KEEP THE TAX RATE AT $1.056
The burden of the tax increase will fall most heavily on lake area owners 85% of whom don’t claim their property as their primary residence and, therefore, do not qualify for the Homestead exemption.
As a property owner, you are entitled to appear and speak at the hearing.
As stated in the Notice of Hearing, “public comment will remain open after the hearing until the budget adoption on June 5, 2023. Persons with questions regarding this hearing may call 301-334-8970 for further information”. Written comments can be sent to Kevin Null – County Administrator at knull@garrettcounty.org or Paul Edwards, commissioner at pedwards@garrettcounty.org
