Dixon halts property tax cuts

Baltimore Sun

Blaming a weak economy and shaky revenues, Mayor Sheila Dixon is abandoning a long-standing plan to cut 2 cents this year from Baltimore’s highest-in-the-state property tax rate.

The annual cut - which has been made each of the past three years - was supposed to knock 10 cents off the tax rate over a five-year period. The reductions have become a primary means to provide tax relief to city property owners.

Baltimore’s property tax rate is by far the highest in Maryland - more than twice Baltimore County’s - and a broad spectrum of city officials have acknowledged that the tax may be stifling growth and threatening homeowners on fixed incomes.

As recently as last month, Dixon planned to go forward with the cut - it was included in her budget proposal for the fiscal year that begins July 1.