Category:garrett county commissioners
Garrett County could sell properties deliquent on utilities
Would be part of annual tax sale in May
Megan Miller
Cumberland Times-News
OAKLAND — Garrett County property owners who are 60 or more days delinquent on payment of their water and sewer bills could see their properties put up for public tax sale as early as May.
That’s according to County Administrator Monty Pagenhardt, who said the county has to find a way to recoup the thousands of dollars it is owed for those public utilities.
“The next tax sale is May, so since we already have that authority, those delinquent properties will go forward,” he said.
Since the annual tax sale is held in May, owners who run delinquent in the summer could go nearly a year before their properties could be put up for sale, while owners who run delinquent in the beginning of the calendar year might have only a few months before the county takes action.
Jeff Broadwater, an accountant with the Department of Public Utilities, said as of Wednesday the county was owed $328,322 in unpaid water and sewer bills, from 633 different accounts. That’s an increase of about $46,000 since November, and $25,000 of that increase is attributable to 17 accounts that owe the most.
In November, the county commission submitted a legislative request to Sen. George Edwards and Delegate Wendell Beitzel asking for the authority to sell properties to collect payment, a method also used in cases of unpaid real estate taxes.
But it retracted the request Monday, after Beitzel pointed out, and an attorney confirmed, that the commission already has the necessary authority under existing code, Pagenhardt said.
The commission also retracted a legislative request Jan. 21 which would have enabled it to increase the county hotel rental tax from 5 percent to a maximum of 8 percent. Pagenhardt attributed that retraction to concerns from businesses that the measure would hurt the county’s tourism industry, driving down income from vacation rentals.
Edwards and Beitzel said they will pursue several other pieces of legislation during the 2010 session targeting Garrett County issues. Those include enabling legislation to allow the commission to implement setback ordinances and decommissioning provisions for wind energy turbines, measures to change the way title searches for dormant mineral rights are conducted and solutions to the shortage of OB/GYN services in the county.
If you are thinking of buying or selling real estate in Garrett County or Deep Creek Lake, Maryland, call Jay Ferguson of Long & Foster Real Estate for all of your real estate needs! 877-563-5350
Commissioners Award Bid For Thayerville (Deep Creek Lake) Water Project
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Commissioners Award Bid For Thayerville Proj.
Jan. 21, 2010
The Board of Garrett County Commissioners awarded a bid on Tuesday for engineering services pertaining to the Thayerville Water Distribution System Project. By a vote of two to one, the board approved the $225,495 bid submitted by RK&K Engineers of Keyser, W.Va.
Buyer Charlie Junkins, Garrett County Purchasing Department, said bids were due on Dec. 8, 2009. Ten bids were submitted to his office.
(more from the Republican Newspaper)
If you are thinking of buying or selling real estate in Garrett County or Deep Creek Lake, Maryland, call Jay Ferguson of Long & Foster Real Estate for all of your real estate needs! 877-563-5350
Commissioners retract proposed hotel/motel tax increase bill
Jay’s note: Even though the legislation would not have REQUIRED a rate increase, it still gave the commissioners authority to raise it at any time. I agree with Nancy Railey’s take on this, as every dollar spent would be one less dollar that is spent on local goods, dining, souvenirs, and typical ‘fun’ things you do while on vacation. Just like everyone else, the commissioners will have to learn to not spend so much money and budget during these lean times. $1.5 million (what they currently receive) is a pretty good chunk of change for merely an accomodations tax.
Megan Miller
Cumberland Times-News
OAKLAND — The Garrett County Commission retracted one of its legislative requests for the 2010 session Thursday, citing concerns by local businesses that the measure would negatively impact the county’s tourism industry.
The commission had requested legislation that would have enabled it to increase the hotel rental tax from 5 percent to a maximum of 8 percent. That increase would not have been implemented all at once, but in increments and as needed, said County Administrator Monty Pagenhardt.
“Back in November when we presented our legislative list to Delegate (Wendell) Beitzel and Sen. (George) Edwards, the plan was to increase the tax to 6 percent for fiscal 2011, which would have generated more than $300,000 for the county,” Pagenhardt said. The money would have been used to fund economic development and tourism, as required by state statutes, he explained.
But Pagenhardt said the commission unanimously agreed to retract the legislative request after hearing concerns from businesses that the measure would hurt the county’s tourism industry, driving down income from vacation rentals.
“The commissioners reviewed data presented by rental companies, and just decided it wasn’t the right time to do it,” Pagenhardt said.
At the Nov. 17 meeting where the commissioners presented their legislative wish list, Nancy Railey of Railey Mountain Lake Vacations gave a presentation opposing the tax increase. Railey told the commissioners at that time that visitors would probably still travel to Garrett County if the tax was increased, but each dollar they had to spend on taxes would be a dollar they wouldn’t spend on local goods and services.
It’s the second year in a row the enabling legislation has been requested but not passed. It was introduced in the 2009 General Assembly but died in committee because of what Beitzel said was an administrative mistake in Annapolis.
For now, the hotel rental tax rate will remain at 5 percent, the highest it can go under the existing legislation. The tax currently brings in about $1.5 million per year to the county.
If you are thinking of buying or selling real estate in Garrett County or Deep Creek Lake, Maryland, call Jay Ferguson of Long & Foster Real Estate for all of your real estate needs! 877-563-5350
Delegation to hear concerns on sheriff’s office, slots, wind power
Delegation to hear concerns on sheriff’s office, slots, wind power
Kevin Spradlin
Cumberland Times-News
(from article)
In Garrett County, emergency services, legislation to authorize an increase in the hotel/motel tax and to establish minimum setback requirements and decommissioning standards for commercial wind turbines are key issues.
Among statewide issues, local organizations are seeking state lawmakers’ support in keeping teacher pensions state-funded and to modify the collective bargaining process that currently allows the state Department of Education, instead of an independent mediator, to serve as final authority in labor disputes between teachers’ unions and the state board.
Rocky Gap State Park is one of five locations authorized to operate slots. The eastern Allegany County facility is permitted up to 1,500 machines. To date, there has been no qualified bid submitted for the site. The Allegany County commissioners asked the delegation in November to introduce a bill that would allow third parties to purchase licenses to operate some of the machines.
The Garrett County commissioners have asked the delegation to introduce a bill that would grant them the authority to increase the hotel/motel tax. It’s an issue that local businesses and property owners object to. Joyce Bishoff, interim president of the Garrett County Chamber of Commerce, indicated that an accommodations tax increase could turn people away from visiting.
The commissioners also want the authority, as their counterparts in Allegany and Kent counties do, to have public sales of homes of residents who are 60 days or more delinquent in the payment of water and sewer bills. During a November meeting, the county’s Department of Public Utilities noted property owners were more than $280,000 in arrears.
There have been a number of requests from private individuals and agencies as well.
Linda Jones of the Garrett County side of Lonaconing is asking the delegation to continue pushing for equal payments for widows deemed “wholly dependent” and “partially self-supporting” after a death in the workplace. Jones, whose husband Dale Jones was killed in April 2007 during a mining incident along with Frostburg resident Michael Wilt, praised the passage of legislation in 2009 that increased payments, but wants a level playing field.
Frostburg resident and former state senator John Bambacus has appealed to the delegation to codify Gov. Martin O’Malley’s ban of wind turbines on state land. Bambacus said the ban currently is continued only at the whim of the state’s chief elected officer.
Bambacus also wants legislation introduced to prohibit wind turbines on mountain ridges in Garrett and Allegany counties.
In correspondence with Bambacus, Delegate Wendell Beitzel said such legislative efforts might be “futile … due to the current frenzy to develop alternative energy sources and the governor’s opposition to anything that stands in the way of wind energy development.”
Beitzel also said that such legislation “could come back to haunt us” if it would prevent other possible uses that would “foster economic development, recreational infrastructure and tourism-related activities.”
If you are thinking of buying or selling real estate in Garrett County or Deep Creek Lake, Maryland, call Jay Ferguson of Long & Foster Real Estate for all of your real estate needs! 877-563-5350
