A bill approved by the Howard County Council this month will allow older residents who own more than one residential property to receive the county’s Aging in Place tax credit.

The bill, approved Oct. 2, removed a prohibition preventing older residents with multiple residences in any state or jurisdiction from receiving a residential tax credit. The tax credit applies to residents older than 65 and to those who have lived in their home for more than 30 years. The credit is worth up to 20% of the county tax or an assessed value of $650,000 after all other eligible credits have been applied.

The bill passed 3-0, with council Chair and District 3 Councilwoman Christiana Rigby and District 2 Councilman Opel Jones both abstaining.

“Our senior population needs support to age in a community and in a home that meets their needs. But instead of fixing the root causes of our issues, which is insufficient diverse home supply, we’re simply cutting from one area to Band-Aid another,” Rigby said at Monday’s legislative hearing.

District 4 Councilwoman Deb Jung introduced a bill last year to reduce the Aging in Place tax credit residency requirement from 38 years to 30 years and to increase the value of the eligible property from $500,000 to $650,000. Rigby then added an amendment to Jung’s bill, creating the multiple residencies prohibition.

“I do not know the intention of her amendment, but I do know that it adversely affects seniors who are living on fixed incomes and who have contributed financially to this county for many decades,” Jung said.

The public or council did not have a chance to review the amendment’s ramifications before the bill passed 3-2 in October 2022.

“The way the legislation reads, it says ‘residential properties.’ So, a residential property could be a completely nonbuildable parcel,” said Tim Feaga, who voiced support for the new bill at a Sept. 18 public hearing.

The average tax credit was $925 on average, up from $780 before the increase in assessed value last year, according to Howard County Director of Finance Rafiu Ighile in a fiscal analysis letter to the council on Sept. 14.

“I strongly believe that if you have multiple homes, paying the full property tax is fair. The exclusion is also a huge buffer to the county’s revenues because it mitigates the potential population of more than 8,000 from getting the credit,” Ighile said.

The County’s Office of Finance said in fiscal 2024, 82 applicants using the paper application process were deemed ineligible due to the multiple residence prohibitions. The total fiscal impact of the bill cannot be determined because it will rely on the number of multiple property owners who will now become eligible for the tax credit, according to a county audit of the bill.

“We know the purpose of the Aging in Place tax credit is to give seniors who have lived in this county for 30 years and are over the age of 65 a little break on their property taxes,” Jung said at Monday’s legislative hearing. “I, for one, would like to see our seniors stay right here in Howard County.”