The Maryland General Assembly is considering a legislative solution to address the problem of missed deadlines for mailing property tax assessments, a mistake that affected approximately 107,000 notices and resulted in no action being taken. The move could cost local governments about $250 million over three years, state officials said Thursday.
Every year, Maryland reassesses the value of one-third of all property in each county. The state Department of Assessment and Taxation must send the notice by January 30th.
But earlier this year, the agency learned of an error that prevented notifications from being sent, said Michael Higgs, the agency’s director. This has hampered the timeline for property owners to appeal new assessments.
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State Sen. Guy Gazzone, chairman of the Senate Budget and Taxation Committee, said attorneys are working to find the best and fair solution.
“We’re trying to resolve the mistakes, but basically what it’s going to look like is the department is now able to send emails, and we’re working on that right now, so people can send emails. Given the period of time they receive it, after that they continue to have every opportunity, exactly the same opportunity, to challenge the assessment,” Guzzone said in an interview Thursday.
Guzzone, the Howard County Democrat, said lawmakers are considering a provision that would extend the expired mailing deadline.
Pictured is the Maryland State Capitol on May 11, 2023 in Annapolis, Maryland. Maryland lawmakers are seeking a solution to the problem of property tax assessments not being sent by the scheduled deadline. In other words, the people did not have that opportunity. To appeal to them. (AP Photo/Brian Witte, File)
The error in the mailing process was first reported by Maryland Matters.
Higgs said the agency uses the state’s preferred vendor, the Federation of People with Disabilities, to print and mail reassessment notices. He said in his statement that the vendor has since resolved the error and that recipients who missed the delivery will be notified in the coming weeks.
Higgs said the agency is working with the General Assembly to draft legislation that would allow for temporary scheduling adjustments for distributing reassessment notices.
“This legislation ensures that the state’s reassessment is completed fairly and accurately and that all appropriate revenue is collected,” Higgs said. “All accounts in this group will receive a notification in the coming weeks and will have 45 days to appeal for re-evaluation.”
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David Greenberg, president of the Disability Federation of Baltimore, said the organization’s social services division has been processing, printing and mailing notices in a timely, skillful and honest manner for more than a decade.
“In the fall of 2023, SDAT has made significant changes to its assessment format,” Greenberg wrote in an email. “SDAT subsequently discovered the duplication and omission of notifications. Since then, the league has been working closely with SDAT staff to resolve the issue.”
The department announced in December that the value of all residential properties in the state’s 23 counties and Baltimore City increased by an average of nearly 26% overall.
