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In Focus: Multimillion dollar properties in Baltimore City granted tax reductions

Posted: 1:27 PM, Sep 13, 2021
Updated: 2021-09-20 10:06:57-04
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The vacant Target at Mondawmin Mall didn’t receive its property tax reduction on the first attempt.

RELATED: “Salt in the wound” Vacant Mondawmin Target’s taxes reduced by $100,000

The Supervisor of Assessments reviewed the property tax assessment appeal but did not change the market value. The property was then appealed to the Property Tax Assessment Appeal Board (PTAAB) for Baltimore City. The Board ordered the value reduced by more than $4.1 million.

While Target had to appeal to the PTAAB, hundreds of property owners were able to reduce their assessments at the Supervisor's level.

The property owner provides information on any factors that may affect the value of the property under appeal, then there is a hearing with an assessor designated by the Supervisor of Assessments. According to the State Department of Assessments and Taxation (SDAT), hearings at this level are informal and take approximately 15 minutes.

Explore this interactive chart to see how many owners received tax reductions by simply appealing their property assessment.

This graph includes properties where the appeal value was more than $5 million and approved at the Supervisor's level, which is why you won’t find the Target property.

And here, you can find some of the highest assessed properties in 2021 and the reductions they received at the Supervisor's level.

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We also listed the top 10 properties in 2021 by percentage of reduction in property tax assessment value.

Of the properties originally assessed above $5 million in Baltimore City in 2021, the total reduction in property value assessment was more than $115 million dollars.

With a property tax rate of about 1 and a half percent, that's more than $1 million that the state of Maryland won't receive in property taxes from the combined properties reassessed at the Supervisor level. (The City has its own property tax rate of about 2.248%.)

The City anticipates bringing in around $938 million in FY22 property tax revenues according to the City's budget, which can be found here.

Correction: A previous version of this article stated that the City wouldn't receive the property tax money, in reference to the State's property tax rate. The City also won't receive property tax money, but at a different, higher rate.