State property tax rates will not increase in the coming year, though homeowners will still likely end up shelling out more in taxes because of increased assessments.
The Board of Public Works voted Wednesday to approve a recommendation to hold the state rate on commercial and residential properties at 11.2 cents per $100 in assessed value. The tax rate on utilities will remain at 28 cents per $100 of assessed value.
The vote of the three-member panel Wednesday was unanimous and without discussion or debate.
Lt. Gov. Aruna Miller (D) highlighted the decision to hold the line on property taxes, noting that the administration had not raised property taxes this term.
“For the last four years, our administration has remained clear about one thing: The state of Maryland will not balance its budget on the backs of working and middle-class families,” Miller said during the meeting.
“Maryland families are feeling the economic pressure from the federal administration,” she said. “Our fiscal year 2027 budget not only strengthens our economic competitiveness, but it also makes life a little more affordable for Marylanders by approving the state property tax rates in front of the board.”
The current rate was first set in 2007 and has remained unchanged.
The recommendation to maintain the current property tax was made on April 9 by the Commission on State Debt. Treasurer Dereck Davis, chair of the panel, is also a member of the Board of Public Works.
Taxpayers are still likely to see their tax bills go up even as the tax rate remains flat. All 23 counties and Baltimore City reported increased assessments for the eighth consecutive year.
One-third of the properties in each jurisdiction are reassessed annually by the Department of Assessments and Taxation. The most recent review, released in December, included more than 789,000 residential properties. Almost 93% of those were subject to increased assessments.
On average, residential property assessments increased by more than 13% this year. That is less than the 20.1% last year and 23.4% in 2023. Commercial property value assessments grew by an average of 11%.
The increased assessments are phased in over a three-year period.
Revenue from the state property tax is used to repay money borrowed through state bonds. Shortfalls are covered by general fund revenues.
The revenue collected does not fully cover the cost of borrowing. In fiscal 2027, the state is expected to collect nearly $1.2 billion in property taxes, about $320 million short of the state’s debt service burden for the year, according to an analysis by the Department of Legislative Services.
The shortfalls decrease and stay at nearly $300 million in the following two fiscal years. In 2030 and 2031, the shortfalls increase to $362 million and $416 million, respectively.
Board approves contract for Revolutionary monument
The board also gave unanimous approval of a nearly $615,000 contract with the Christman Co. for the construction of a new monument on the grounds of the Maryland State House.
The Sterling, Virginia-based company will install the monument to Black soldiers who fought in the Revolutionary War, the majority of whom were free Blacks, according to board documents.
Last August, the board approved a $311,000 contract with sculptor Branly Cadet, of Oakland, California, to design the monument.
The memorial honoring about 150 Black Marylanders who fought in the Revolutionary War will be installed on the southeast lawn of the State House, near where a statue of Roger Brooke Taney stood before it was removed from the grounds in 2017.
Taney, the only Marylander to serve as chief justice of the United States, was the author of Supreme Court’s Dred Scott decision. In that 1857 case, the court said that no Black person could be a citizen and that slaves remained the property of their owners even if they traveled to free states.
The new monument is expected to be installed later this year as part of a state observation of the 250th anniversary of the American Revolution.