According to this front page story by Larry Carson in The Sun today, the assessed value of homes in Howard County dropped by 23.1% since 2006. Across the State of Maryland, assessed values dropped an average of 19.7% “the largest decline in the state assessment office's history.”
This doesn’t mean our property taxes are likely to go down though.
“In Howard County, for example, if a home doubled in value, the owner pays taxes on only 5 percent of that increase yearly. So even this year's 23.1 percent decline in residential value won't produce a tax bill cut.”
Curiously, Carson also reported that during the same period commercial properties actually increased in value according to the State Department of Assessments and Taxation. That doesn’t jibe at all with what the financial community thinks.
Happy Snapper Mating
4 hours ago
