County Needs To Hear From Citizens
Editor:
In recent years, I have complained to the Mayor and Council of Ocean City that my town property tax bills have gone up at a greater pace than my Worcester County property tax bills. For example, using a base year of Fiscal Year (FY) 09, my town tax bill was up almost 48% in FY15, as compared to a 32% increase in my county tax bill over the same period. In FY16, my town increase was over 50% above the base year, as compared to a county increase over 47%.
However, in FY17 the situation could change. The Worcester County Commissioners are considering adopting a proposed property tax rate of 87 cents/$100 of assessed value. If adopted, my county bill will increase over 58% above the base year, while my town tax bill will decrease slightly.
I call on all Worcester County property owners to contact the County Commissioners and request that they hold the line on the property tax rate increase. Hopefully, they will adopt the constant yield rate of 82.45 cents/$100, but certainly no more than the current rate of 83.5 cents/$100. If the Commissioners hear from enough citizens, they may not increase the rate.
Vincent dePaul Gisriel, Jr.
Ocean City
Voting Right Quashed
Editor:
On a recent Sunday, The Washington Post did a comparative study of home prices since 2004, four years before the peaks reached before the recession. I Googled the site (wapo.st/housing) and entered my zip code in Falls Church, Va. 22042, where home prices were up 24%. Go to Google try it yourself. Next, I entered a zip code where I am looking at a property in Lewes, Del., and they were up 11%. Finally I entered my zip code in Ocean City, which also includes some increases in property values in West Ocean City, 21842, and home prices were down 17%. We have the beach, beautiful sun and sand, and one of the prime vacation spots in the nation, so why has real estate declined so much in Ocean City over the last 12 years?
In 2014, I went back over local costs to see what had happened. I noticed that for five years, from 2005 through 2009, the then–City Manager Dennis Dare had failed to adjust the tax rate downward as indicated by the state’s annual constant yield adjustment. By 2009 taxes had increased an astounding 80% above what constant yield called for. Since 2009, the mayor and council have been diligent to raise the rate every year as property values noise dived for seven years through 2015 while assessing the improper 80% higher tax burden on us annually. The Mayor and Council acquiesced to Mr. Dare’s failure to properly correct the tax rate to comply with the states past notices of constant yield. The result since 2009 Ocean City property values have declined for seven straight years except last year, when the rise was less than 1%, that lowered the rate a fraction of a penny.
The takeaway is when property values skyrocketed (2005-09) local government failed to lower the rate to comply with constant yield, but when property values plummet our local government promptly raises the rate! So over 12 years we have ended up with an unprecedented 80% rise in property taxes every year, and our home prices reflect this.
Although all resident-voters have gained hundreds of dollars from the special deal called homestead, they have lost tens of thousands of dollars in the values of their homes, due to the sharp rise in property taxes for others, while second-home owners have born the full brunt of losses of tens of thousands in property values in addition to paying the full 80%-plus in improper increases annually. How fair is that. Don’t get me wrong: Everything you give government they spend, whether it is reasonable or not.
When I realized in 2014 what had happened to our property values, I started a petition which allowed us to vote directly on reducing our property tax. The idea reduces the rate and as home values increase the government will benefit as we do. Although, we only reached about 40 percent of the voters, eight out of 10, signed the petition, or nearly 1,500 voters: well over the 1,226 required. Mr. Ayres, our town’s City Solicitor, said, “The petitioners are not allowed to vote on their tax,” he called it “illegal” and recommended that the council “sue” to stop the petition. On April 20, Judge Jackson, interestingly a judge from another county, Wicomico, was brought in; he sided with Ayres and the council and quashed our petition, pending appeal.
Well, if the voters can’t vote directly on their tax in Maryland, they can, for certain, vote out of office the politicians that stopped them, Meehan, DeLuca, Knight, Cymek, and, of course, Mr. Dare who, all voted to “sue” to stop the petition that would have allowed voters to vote directly on our property tax.
For quashing the voter’s rights to vote directly on their tax Mr. Ayres emerges as a somewhat dubious champion. He has personally found a different way to handle the property tax problem. As reported last week in Ocean City Today on page 84, Item #15, “To Ayres, Guy R. III, Total Cost & Taxes Due $11,837.01.” This represents two years of nonpayment of city, county and state property taxes by Mr. Ayres. Maybe we should follow Mr. Ayres’ lead, and just don’t pay our taxes.
Tony Christ
Support Appreciated
Editor:
As president of Worcester County GOLD, I would like to express my appreciation for the generosity of everyone who helped make our 12th Annual Colors of Spring Fashion Show and Luncheon fundraiser such a success.
This includes Becky Zweigbaum and everyone at the Bayside Skillet, Jan Patterson and Louise Reardon of CraZy LadyZ!, Patti Stolba at Ocean City Florist, Cindi Leiner of Candy Kitchen, Linda Dearing of Copy Central, Christa McInturff of Sweetlife Art, and the businesses that provided door prizes: The Bonfire Restaurant, Bayside Skillet, Dazzle, J.T. Novak LLC, Dixieland, The Power of 2 Team at Hileman Real Estate and SummerWaters.
Worcester GOLD was founded for the purpose of providing emergency assistance to families in crisis, vulnerable adults and children in foster care. We partner with the Department of Social Services and other organizations in Worcester County. GOLD supports its programs in large part from the kindness of our community donors and our fund-raising activities.
Carol L. Jacobs
Berlin
(The writer is president of Worcester GOLD.)