District 14 Virtual Town Hall Jan 27th - Tax Sale
Our District 14 Virtual Town Hall this past week was about the method of property tax payment called Tax Sale. My guests were Nneka Nnamdi from Fight Blight Baltimore, Dan Ellis from Neighborhood Housing Services, and John Kern from Maryland Volunteer Lawyers Service. Here is the full video.
Along with the three of them, I’ve been working on this issue for a while. As Dan Ellis explained, tax sale happens when you don’t pay your taxes by December 31st. Your house is placed on a list that is advertised in March, and if you still don’t pay your taxes by April 30, your home is in tax sale. On that May date, the taxes you owe are in the form of a lien certificate, which is sold to an investor (let’s say it is $1,000). Then the city gets paid that day, all taxes are paid. The investor goes back to the homeowner and demands pay, plus 12% interest plus legal fees. If it is not paid by the following February, foreclosure proceedings can begin. This is a horrible process that catches mostly older adults. Dan also laid out some reforms, which tie into the legislation I just introduced to allow for payment plans on taxes in arrears and allowing people without a mortgage to pay their taxes monthly.
Nneka talked about the SOS (Stop Oppressive Seizures) initiative designed to eliminate tax sale as we know it, and assist homeowners. She showed us a map of where the tax sales occur, and the map should not be surprising. She also talked about the issue of the over-assessment of black and brown neighborhoods, so that proportionately, black and brown homeowners pay more in taxes. These are all topics we need to continue to look into it.
John talked about the work MVLS is working on a variety of issues, but in this case around making sure that residents have the deed in their name. Often family members grow up in that house, and when the owners pass away, the deed is not transferred. So these legacy homeowners need to open estates to change it to their name. If the deed is not in their name, they are not eligible for various programs. So MVLS is very much involved with tax sale, because often the aid to help families is not available.
All of my guests talked about the historical origin of tax sale, being based back during Reconstruction where white towns were finding punitive ways to get rid of black families in their areas. There are more options here that we can use in Baltimore.