More News

Most Maryland counties likely will avoid tax increases in balancing their budgets for fiscal 2011.

Among those that have adopted budgets, only two have increased property taxes, and few are reporting proposed tax increases, said Andrea Mansfield, associate director of the Maryland Association of Counties.

However, that trend is not likely to continue into fiscal 2012, said Anirban Basu, chairman and CEO of the Baltimore-based Sage Policy Group.

"I think that next year will be a test for many local government budgets and, correspondingly, we will most likely see more raising taxes next year than we have seen this year," he said.

Basu is basing his prediction on a still-weak economy and a fragile housing market he says will hurt state and local budgets. The state, in turn, will make cuts to funding for local government, he said, forcing counties to find additional sources of revenue.

"Local governments have only their own tax base to help close budgetary gaps, and that's why I expect taxes to go up," Basu said.

Already, Anne Arundel and Kent counties have raised property taxes slightly, and the Baltimore City Council voted Monday to increase taxes on income, telecommunications and parking to raise $20 million.

In Montgomery County, council members approved steep increases to energy and cell phone taxes to generate about $150 million in new revenue. The council also approved a fee on ambulance rides to be paid by insurance companies; it is expected to bring in about $13 million annually.

Officials in Prince George's, Queen Anne's, Frederick and Washington counties say they have not had to turn to tax increases — yet.

"We decided to maintain the tax rate because we did not feel with the current economic climate it was an appropriate time to ask constituents to pay more money," said Frederick Commissioners President Jan Gardner.

In Queen Anne's County, the $110 million budget commissioners began reviewing this week does not include tax increases, but a group of commissioners and local leaders is lobbying for a property tax increase, said John Borders, the county administrator and director of finance.

Under the proposal, the tax rate would go from 77 cents per $100 of assessed property value to 87 cents.

The median home value is $341,000, he said, meaning the increase would result in an additional $341 per year for those homeowners.

The county's current tax rate was set in 2008 and is a decrease from a high of 97.6 cents in 2001, Borders said.

Still, he is not sure there is much support for the increase — even though only one of the county's five commissioners is a candidate in November's election.

Political observers have questioned whether elected officials might be waiting until after elections to approve tax increases.

A group called Americans for Tax Reform is even sponsoring a Taxpayer Protection Pledge in which it asks elected officials nationwide to sign their names promising not to raise taxes in 2011.

Cort Meinelschmidt, a Republican candidate for the Subdistrict 2C seat in Washington County now held by Del. John P. Donoghue (D), signed the pledge and said it will help keep politicians accountable and let voters know which candidates support tax increases.

"It's an election year," Meinelschmidt said. "They're not going to raise taxes. But it's the first thing they're going to do next year."