The town of Kensington will enjoy an approximately $10,000 annual gain in property tax revenue after it annexed on Jan. 14 the rest of a Kaiser Permanente property that sat partially within town boundaries.

The Kaiser Permanente facility at 10810 Connecticut Ave. was annexed using a new state law that allows municipalities to annex properties that are less than five acres without the consent of the property owner when a portion of the parcel is already within the town.

Kensington has been refunding roughly $10,000 in property taxes to Kaiser Permanente to make up for the 2.1 acres—roughly half of the property—that were not within the town boundaries. The town will no longer issue that refund, effectively doubling the revenue received from Kaiser Permanente.

Per the requirements of state law, the annexation will officially take effect 40 days after the Jan. 14 unanimous approval by the Kensington Town Council. No testimony was received at the Jan. 14 public hearing on the annexation, and Kaiser Permanente did not respond to a request from The Gazette for comment.

Mayor Peter Fosselman said the annexation was a "win-win situation."

"I think for the town, we get the extra revenue, the tax revenue. We also make one section of town whole again that was split in half, and for Kaiser, they'll have better representation. When you've got a municipality standing behind you that's usually better," Fosselman said.