(4/22) Property tax payments for residents of Taneytown who saw an increase in the assessed value of their property will go up an average of 3.5% this year. The increase is a result of the City Council opting to keep the town’s current property tax rate of .37 per $100 of assessed value.

According to the state, the estimated assessable base for 2022 increased for the town from $744,694,384 to $ 771,047,393, or a $26,353,009. The increase was a result of not only inflation, but on new housing in the City that came on the books last year.

In order to fully offset the effect of increased property assessments the ‘constant yield’ tax rate should have been reduced to .3574 per $100 of assessed value. ‘Constant yield’ is the term applied to a tax rate that maintains the same level of tax revenue from the prior year. A decision not to apply a ‘constant yield’ rate results in an actual increase in ‘out of the pocket’ tax payments by town property holders.

Instead of going with the state’s calculated ‘constant yield’ tax rate, town staff recommended that the council maintaining the current tax rate of .37, resulting in an additional $97,506 in total property tax payment from town residents.

In justifying opting not to go with this year’s state’s proposed ‘constant yielded rate’ recommendation, Town Manager Jim Wieprecht said that though the town is always looking for efficiencies and cost saving measures that won’t diminish the level of service we provide. "Costs for the City generally rise each year," Wieprecht said, "just as most folks see household expenses increase, particularly considering current the level of inflation."

"Taneytown’s largest revenue source is that property tax, so lowering the tax rate to the constant yield rate would fail to recognize that the City isn’t immune to cost increases most organizations must address, such as healthcare costs, trying to keep employee wages competitive, power, fuel, vehicle related expenses, materials etc. "Wieprecht said.

"Fuel does have me a bit on edge as we budget for fuel at $4 a gallon and are usually happy when we don’t see it reach that point, at least not for long periods. In FY-23, I’m sure we’ll be watching that line item very closely. As the City grows, we also have more infrastructure to maintain, more streetlights to power and so on, so I’d hope it’s understandable that City expenses will rise."

While the new tax rate will result in a 3.5% tax increase on property owners who’s assessments increased, the proposed increase is only half the Consumer Price Index gage of inflation for 2021 that, as Wieprecht noted, directly impacts the spending power of the town.

At the same meeting, the City Council opted to also keep the water and sewer rates as they been for several years now. Water is $7.25 per 1,000 gallons and sewer is $14.24 per 1,000 gallons.