City government officials are considering charging a solid waste collection fee to Baltimore homeowners, one of several tactics aimed at increasing revenues as Mayor Brandon Scott’s administration pledges to reduce the property tax rate.

Looking to grow investment in Baltimore and satisfy calls to lessen city households’ tax burden, officials hope to trim back the rate to less than $2 for every $100 of assessed value over a phased-in period. The current rate stands at $2.248 — the highest of any Maryland jurisdiction.

Scott made the proposed cut the culmination of his annual State of the City address Monday night, pledging to woo new homeowners and keep the city’s existing residents by lowering the rate by 2028.

“We know the real thing that’s stopping a lot of folks from moving here or pushing them out is our tax rate,” Scott said.

But such a reduction would come at a cost — about $120 million annually, Deputy Finance Director Bob Cenname told members of the Baltimore City Council on Tuesday.

In addition to the solid waste charge, which homeowners in other Maryland counties already pay, Scott’s administration is also toying with raising the homestead cap from 4% to 6%, a threshold that’s supposed to limit the increase in taxable assessments each year. Homeowners of any income level can apply for the Homestead tax credit for their primary residence, and the caps in Maryland range from 0% to 10%.

Calls for the city to shave the property tax rate have loomed since the beginning of Scott’s time in office. A citizen-led effort to slash it to 1.2% — a rate so low that Cenname said Tuesday it would not be possible for Baltimore in his lifetime — has cropped up twice in two election cycles. Meanwhile, City Councilwoman Phylicia Porter introduced a bill earlier this year asking for Baltimore’s tax-exempt institutions to pay more to the city to reduce the burden on residents, a push supported by a community coalition called With Us For Us.

Council members discussed the ideas Tuesday morning at a Budget & Appropriations Committee hearing with Cenname, who has led a work group reviewing tax credits since 2024. City Council President Zeke Cohen, in an exchange with Cenname, questioned if adding new fees on city residents would effectively cancel out any property tax cut.

“While symbolically and aesthetically I can appreciate what we’re doing,” Cohen said, “the burden still falls on the people who live here.”

Cenname said homeowners whose houses are not rapidly appreciating in value are most likely to see relief from the proposals because it would shift the overall burden to owners of more rapidly appreciating properties. And all households stand to benefit from a reduction in the overall tax rate.

Cenname reiterated that the city would continue to evaluate its tax credit programs and adjust them as necessary.

Baltimore is still several months away from recommending adjustments to its tax credits. Officials said they will be included in a 10-year plan for the city that will be released in the late summer or early fall.

Cenname said Tuesday the logistics of the potential solid-waste fee are still being worked out and will likely take years of study to perfect. Some jurisdictions charge customers based on the size of their trash cans, a system that could increase the risk of illegal dumping, he said, while others tie the fees to property values.

For the city to be competitive with surrounding jurisdictions, potential homebuyers must feel like they are getting a better deal, Cenname argued. Many Baltimore homeowners are already effectively paying a tax rate equivalent to $2 on every $100 of assessed value by claiming the Targeted Homeowners Tax Credit, but the tax credit work group found that people lack an understanding of the program.

“People see the headline rate of 2.24,” Cenname said, calling it a sticker price. “They don’t realize they’re getting a little better deal.”

Many of Baltimore’s tax credits are offered not to homeowners but to developers investing in the city. City officials outlined several proposed tweaks to those credits, including pulling out of a state program for brownfield sites, environmentally contaminated former industrial or commercial properties. Officials have also discussed implementing tiers to the city’s successful Historic Rehabilitation and Restoration Tax Credit, or CHAP tax credit, to offer more benefits in areas of the city that have seen less investment.

Cohen questioned why potential savings from those adjustments couldn’t be used to offer additional relief to homeowners.

“I sort of thought part of the premise of this working group was more along the lines of are there credits that we are giving to stimulate development that may not be necessary, so that we could then transfer that into a general property tax break?” he said.

Cenname said it will take at least 10 years to see the fruits of most reform efforts because the city will have to wait for the current credits to expire.

“If we’re approving a tax credit today under the old rules, we’re stuck with it for 10 years,” he said.