Baltimore City Council approved a plan to tax vacant and abandoned homes at a higher rate Monday evening, sending the legislation to Mayor Brandon Scott for approval.
The plan, which received unanimous cosponsorship from the council, would set the tax rate for vacant and abandoned homes at three times the typical rate (6.744% per every $100 of assessed value) in its first year. The rate would escalate to four times the standard rate every tax year after (8.992% per $100 of assessed value).
The rate structure could be effective as early as July 2026. Scott is expected to sign the legislation.
The aim, said Councilwoman Odette Ramos, would be for liens on vacant properties to become so high that they would qualify for the judicial in rem foreclosure process, allowing the city to take possession of any homes left untouched.
The bill could potentially affect more than 10,000 abandoned properties over time, according to data from the Department of Finance, and will not initially include vacant lots.
Long eyed as a potential tool to reduce vacant buildings across Baltimore, the tax rate proposal has been years in the making. State representatives in Baltimore’s delegation to Annapolis tried and failed to pass enabling legislation every General Assembly session from 2021 to 2023, after an earlier unsuccessful attempt in 2010.
Finally, in 2024, the authorizing legislation passed both the House of Delegates and the state Senate, and was signed into law by Gov. Wes Moore, giving all of Maryland’s 23 counties and Baltimore the power to tax their vacants.
On Monday, City Council voted 11-0 in favor of the tax rate proposal. Five members of the body were absent. Council President Nick Mosby said the legislation will allow the city to attack the city’s decades-old vacancy problem on a more “holistic level.”
“This puts Baltimore in a different perspective in terms of dealing with vacancies,” he said.
During a meeting of the Ways and Means Committee last month, the bill received unanimous support from members in attendance, but some expressed concerns about unintentional consequences. Councilman Isaac “Yitzy” Schleifer said permitting delays in the Department of Housing and Community Development could cause some developers to receive higher taxes during the new rate structure through no fault of their own.
Baltimore Banner reporter Hallie Miller contributed to this story.
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