Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1954-02-11
Annual Assessment
Move Is Under WAY
In Maryland Senate
Special Correspondent Of The Ssor

ANNAPOLIS. Feb. IA move
was under way in the Maryland
Legislature today to bring about
annual property assessments
throughout the State next year.
Senator Hubert P. Barton,
Democrat. of Baltimore, was APP
pointed chairman of a special
subcommittee Of the powerful
Senate Finance committee to
draw up such legislation for in
PRODUCTION in the next few days.
Maryland has been talking
about annual assessments for
years. II it comes about, it will
end one of the property tax
payers greatest laments.
Under the present system, in
effect since the first of the year,
Baltimore City and the counties
reasSeSs one-third of their prop
critics each year. Before this
year. they reassessed on a FIVE
year basis. The inequity Of both
systems, tax officials admit, is
that at no. time are reassess-
ments ever uniform in any one
county. .....
Cite Need for 50 More Aides.
Deely K. Nice. chairman of the
State Tax Commission. and the
commissions executive secretary,
Albert w. Ward, told the Senate
Finance Committee yesterday
they both favor annual assess
ments. but it would require about
SO more assessors than the 118
the State now has.
Maryland is not yet ready
for annual reassessmentS," Mr..
Ward said. except in Baltimore
City and Montgomery County
where modern assessment aids,
such as tax maps. are in use"
you've been saying the same
thing ever since 1947." said Com
mittee Chairman Louis Y. Gold
stein, Democrat. of Calvert
County.
"If we're ever going to have
the annual assessments we all
say we desire, we've got to make
start some time"
This is election year" Senator
Barton chimed in. You'd better
listen to the people"
Disapprove Annual Plan.
In approving appointment Of a
subcommittee to draw UP an an
nual assessment bill, the COM
mittee at the same time voted
8-to-5 to give an unfavorable
report to a measure that would
allow Baltimore City and the
county to put reassessments on
their tax books annually.
Under the new three-year
assessment cycle, which went
into effect the first Of the year,
reassessmentS must be kept of
the tax books until the end of the
three-year period, when all prop
erty in the county has been
reaSSeSSed.
County officials throughout the
State have complained that the
three-year allegiance period would
force them to increase tax rates
and would have the effect of
freezing their borrowing power,
which is based on total assess
ments.
Fear DISADVANTAGE.
Mr.. Ward and Mr.. Nice spoke
in favor of the bill. Mr.. Ward
said Montgomery County. in par
ticular, would suffer because it
would have difficulty keeping up
with its school building and other
capital improvement needs, if its
limit of bonded Indebtedness
were frozen by three-year. Pc
RODS.
Mr.. Ward pointed out, how
ever, that, under the law, Mont
gomery County has the auth
ority to order annual property
reassessments, if it wants to.
But he said he did not think 1t
would be fair for one county to
be reassessing annually, while
the others were reassessing only
a third Of their properties each
year.
The bill given the unfavorable
report yesterday originated from
the Montgomery County coun-
ell, which persuaded the legisla-
tive council to introduce it in the
1853 session. Both the Senate
and the House passed it last
year. But the Governor had tn