MINUTES OF THE BOARD OF COUNTY COMMISSIONERS

May 8, 2001

A public hearing was held on Tuesday, May 8, 2001, at the Cecil County Administrative Building, 107 North Street, Elkton, Maryland, for the constant yield tax rate for Cecil County for fiscal year July1, 2001, through June 20, 2002.  The following members of the Board were present:

Nelson K. Bolender, President

Harry A. Hepbron, Commissioner

Phyllis Kilby, Commissioner

     Constituting a full Board.

            The meeting was called to order by President Bolender at 1:00 p.m.

            Mr. Craig Whiteford, Budget manager, read the following notice which appeared in the Cecil Whig:

            In order to make real property tax bills simpler and easier to understand, the General Assembly, under Chapter 80 of the Acts of 2000, has required that property tax rates on real property be based on a full cash value assessment.  As a result, on October 1, 2000, real property tax rates were reduced to 40% of the rate effective July 1, 2000.  The County real property tax rate of #2.45 per $100 of assessment on July 1, 2000, was reduced to $0.98 per $100 of assessment on October 1, 2000.  The change in method of assessment hand no effect on actual tax liability for the taxable year beginning July 1, 2000.

            The Board of County Commissioners of Cecil County  proposes to increase real property taxes.

1.                  For the tax year beginning July 1, 2001, the estimated real property assessable base will increase by 2.79% from $4,377,653,230 as of October 1, 2000, to $4,499,635,668 as of July 1, 2001.

2.                  If Cecil County maintains the current real property tax rate, effective October 1, 200, of $0.98 per $100 of assessment, real property tax revenues will increase by 2.79% resulting in $1,195,428 of new real property tax revenues.

3.                  In order to fully offset the effect of increasing assessments, the real property tax rate should be reduced to $0.95, the constant yield tax rate.

4.                  The County is considering not reducing its real property tax rate enough to fully offset increasing assessments.  The Cecil County Board of Commissioners proposes to adopt a real property tax rate $0.98 per $100 of assessment.  This tax rate is 3.16% higher than the constant yield tax rate and will generate $1,195,428 in additional property tax revenues.

Motion was made by Commissioner Kilby, seconded by Commissioner Hepbron, and unanimously carried to maintain the property tax rate of $0.98 per $100 of assessed value for FY01-02.

Motion was made by Commissioner Kilby, seconded by Commissioner Hepbron, and unanimously carried to adjourn.