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Thursday, October 26, 2017

Maryland Homestead Tax Credit

There are two Maryland programs that can provide tax relief on your property taxes.

1. Maryland Homestead Tax Credit

The Maryland Homestead Tax Credit limits the amount by which your property tax assessment can increase on your principal residence to 10% or less each year. (The limit in Howard County is presently set to 5% per year.)


Rising Assessments

What this means is that when your house is reassessed (roughly every 3 years), even if the value of the assessment increases sharply, the amount of the property tax you pay will be limited to increasing by no more than 5% a year in Howard County. Typically the increases are phased in over a 3-year period.

The law was enacted to prevent sharply rising property values from causing financial difficulties for long-time residents, especially retirees on fixed incomes.

But You Must Apply

The caveat is that the Maryland Homestead Tax Credit is not applied to your residence unless you submit an application. But once approved the credit is automatically applied each year afterwards.

If you're unsure of the status of your Homestead Credit, you can check your property in the Maryland Department of Assessments and Taxation SDAT Real Property Database.

You can apply by mail or online:

2. Homeowners' Property Tax Credit Program

A separate, much less well-known program called the Homeowners' Property Tax Credit limits your property taxes on your primary residence based upon income thresholds.

Since your net worth must also be below $200,000 (not including your residence and retirement accounts) and combined gross household income must be below $60,000 this program most likely would have the biggest benefit if you suffer a sudden, unexpected financial issue such as job loss.

Also, this affects only the taxes from the first $300,000 of assessment valuation.

The maximum property tax varies as household income increases:

Wednesday, October 18, 2017

2017 (Almost) Halloween Chili Cook-Off & Pumpkin Carving

This year's Chili Cook-Off and Pumpkin Carving will be a few days early because of scheduling conflicts on Halloween itself:

Dates:
  • Friday Oct. 27: Pumpkin Carving (in the grassy common area behind 9832/9834)
  • Saturday Oct. 28: (Almost) Halloween Chili Cook-Off & Block Party
Everyone is welcome to attend (whether you enter a chili or not)!

Allie needs RSVPs for anyone entering the Chili Cook-Off so she knows how many meat and vegetarian chilis to expect!


To sign up or for more information about the events Friday and Saturday, go to the SignUpGenius page for the event:
We hope to see everyone there!

Schedule of Events:

Friday 10/27 @ 5pm: 

Monday, October 2, 2017

2017 Annual Meeting for Autumn Walk HOA

*** Update: Location has been changed to 9811 Garden Ranges. Proxies are available at:

https://drive.google.com/file/d/0B36wLSaQsOJHODVldWNjVDU1X0k/



The 2017 Annual Meeting and Elections for Autumn Walk HOA will be held on Oct. 30th. If you cannot attend that evening, please submit your proxy forms so the results can be valid.



Date: Monday, October 30, 2017
Time: 7 PM
Location: Emerson Clubhouse 9811 Garden Ranges (Dharmesh/Bindu's House)

Agenda:
  • Autumn Walk Board Elections 
    • One position open
    • Quorum required: 12 houses
  • Adoption of FY18 Budget
    • Entrance Sign
    • Dues will remain $75/month
  • Open Forum for Residents
    • Maintenance Issues