Kent County’s budget does not include an annual tax rebate to Chestertown, Rock Hall, Millington, Betterton, and Galena, nor does the county reduce its tax rate for property owners in these municipalities.
By eschewing rebates or tax relief, the County requires the five towns’ taxpayers to pay for certain County services—public safety, public works, planning and zoning—that they do not receive. It’s as simple as that!
Seven of nine Shore counties realize their responsibility to municipal taxpayers. Caroline, Dorchester, Queen Anne’s, and Talbot counties provide property tax differentials. Cecil and Somerset provide rebates. Worchester provides “grants.” Alone, Kent and Wicomico provide nothing.
Because it collects property taxes for phantom services, Kent County flim-flams all taxpayers in its five municipalities. It’s time for this to stop!
Because Chestertown is home to one-quarter of county residents, it bears the lion’s share of this taxing inequity. Thank you, Mayor Chris Cerino, for forcefully and clearly describing this situation to Kent County’s commissioners and asking them to be fair and just.
Grenville B. Whitman
Rock Hall
I have been asking for the County to step up and do the right thing for the last ten years or so.. They have listened but that is all, hopefully this new group will do the right and proper thing. Treat all the residents of Kent County, if not the same, at least in a much more equitable manner.
Yes, indeed. The County Commissioners of the past have done nothing to rectify this and we need to hold our newly elected commissioners to ACT. Council Member David Foster has pushed this hard and smartly. But we need action NOW.
We need this tax relief in Rock Hall. too, but our incumbent mayor did not deign to attend the meeting with the Commission, along with mayors Cerino and Sutton (Betterton) and Councilman Hemstock (Millington), plus Councilmen Foster and Stetson (C’town).
Jones was invited, but apparently he was too busy to go to bat for his constituents in this important local tax issue.
Dear editor
I spent the first half of my thirties, and Gren spent the first half of [redacted] arguing about taxes and whatever else struck our fancies. That he comes down on the side of saying there is such a thing as overtaxation tells me that there may be something to this thing.
What will be curious is which interest will win the day. The SoS education advocacy group has been fighting for a larger slice of the pie for several years. The argument being that our private and public sectors will continue to stagnate as long as the impression exists that we do not invest in our schools or the going concern of families in general. What will happen if the pie is smaller by rebating the incorporated areas? The connective tissue here may be the efficiency audit that I have seen some clamoring to have performed.