A top elections official ruled that a measure to cut Baltimore City’s property tax rate in half will not go onto the November ballot.
On Tuesday, Baltimore City Board of Elections Director Armstead Jones sent a letter to Constantine Themelis, the attorney for the group behind the ballot measure, detailing his reasons for why it would be unconstitutional to put the proposal on the ballot. The Baltimore Banner reported the news of the letter first.
“State law provides that the power to set a specific property tax rate in the counties and Baltimore City must remain with the County or City Council,” wrote Jones. “Maryland's highest court has held that under this rule, a petition-initiated charter amendment may not set a specific property tax rate.”
Earlier this summer, a group called Renew Baltimore submitted over 23,000 signatures to the board to get their proposal before city voters in November. Their proposal would stagger a cut to the Baltimore tax rate over seven years down from its current 2.24%, the highest in Maryland, to 1.2%. Only 10,000 signatures are required to submit a ballot proposal to the Board of Elections.
“Renew Baltimore disagrees strongly with the decision made by the Election Director of the Baltimore City Board of Elections to disregard the will of over 23,000 Baltimore City residents who demand real change to Baltimore City’s unfair property tax rate," said Themelis, the attorney for Renew Baltimore, in a statement.
In his letter, Jones admits that the framing of the language on the proposed charter amendment proposes caps on the property tax, meaning that the City Council could pass even lower rates, but Jones cited two previous cases in the state supreme court with similar language.
Themelis wrote that Renew Baltimore plans to appeal the decision.
“Renew Baltimore will be seeking appropriate judicial review of this decision in the Baltimore City Circuit Court. We are confident that the tens of thousands of Baltimore citizens who support a fair and competitive tax rate will ultimately prevail."
Supporters of the property-tax cut say it will stimulate home ownership and development in the city, particularly for middle and lower-income earners.
A report from the city's finance department predicted that the measure could create an annual structural deficit of $900 million within a decade if the proposal would be successful.
"This determination from the Baltimore City Board of Elections confirms what advocates, legal experts, and residents have been contending -- the Renew Baltimore proposal is unconstitutional and should not appear on the Baltimore ballot in November or at any other time,” said Courtney Jenkins, speaking on behalf of the Baltimore City Not For Sale Coalition, a group formed in part to the amendment from Renew Baltimore.
“The measure was a simple-minded fantasy, created to benefit the very wealthiest at the expense of the rest of us,” wrote Jenkins, saying that city residents would have suffered from fewer cities services like fewer firefighters, the elimination of street cleaning, and cuts certain public health services if the proposal had been accepted by voters.
The Baltimore City Not for Sale Coalition is still moving forward with plans to oppose a proposal to shrink the Baltimore City Council: that campaign is funded almost entirely by David Smith, the executive chairman of the Sinclair Broadcast Group who is known for his conservative political advocacy.
Jones with the Board of Elections wrote that the board is no longer required to continue verifying signatures gathered on the petition as the 20-day verification for signatures now no longer applies, however, he said his staff will continue to review signatures “in the interest of efficiency” should there be any “judicial review.”
