Sen. Glassman To Update Property Taxpayers Bill of Rights

From the Office of Sen. Barry Glassman:

Annapolis, Md. – Harford County Senator Barry Glassman R-35 will be introducing a pair of Bills to update Maryland’s Property Taxpayers Bill of Rights

Currently, the State Department of Assessment and Taxation (“SDAT”) is receiving approximately 59,000 property tax appeals. To states falling housing market and local citizen’s awareness of the downturn in the market and the value of their homes has raised awareness on the SDAT’s current assessment procedure. Although Maryland currently has a taxpayer’s Bill of Rights, Senator Glassman wants to update some of the provisions which would allow a property tax appealer to record their local hearing, have a right to change jurisdiction when agreed upon, and agree upon a reasonable amount of time to present their case. The Senator’s legislation would also allow a property owner to receive the actual comparables and evaluation from SDAT upon the first notice that they are considering an appeal of their assessment. Currently, those comparables are sent in a general fashion after the appeal is noted. Finally, the legislation would also require a report from SDAT on its ability to provide a transparent internet procedure so that property owners could go to a centralized website, click on their property and have the ability in real time to look at the methods which were used for the assessment of their property.

The other piece of legislation that is being submitted by Senator Glassman is a 24 member Task Force to review the overall property tax assessment procedure and assessment appeals process in the State of Maryland. The Board would be composed of one citizen from each of Maryland’s jurisdictions to review the overall system and make recommendations back to the legislature.