At a special work session of the Kent County Commissioners on February 11, Chestertown Mayor David Foster presented a slide show to illustrate his ongoing concern with the tax differential between the county and municipality. According to studies employed by Chestertown, a tax adjustment could return between $617,900 and $913,000 to Chestertown, offering relief to property owners and funding critical town improvements.
Although the disagreement on how to fairly resolve what a University of Maryland study cited as a 10-15% over taxation of Chestertown by the County has been ongoing through three Mayorships, the Commissioners’ meeting ended on a positive note with a willingness to create a working group .
Central to the argument is that Chestertown residents are taxed twice—paying for both municipal and county services—while county residents living outside town limits contribute nothing to town services. This tax disparity places a financial strain on the town and hinders efforts to attract businesses and workers.
“For every dollar Chestertown receives in property tax, Kent County receives $2.37,” Foster said, calling for a reevaluation of the tax structure to create a more equitable and supportive environment for economic development.
The Maryland Department of Planning warns that the lack of a property tax differential contradicts the state’s funding priorities. Without correction, this imbalance continues to deter economic growth.
“The higher the property taxes, the less investment, the fewer the job opportunities, the smaller our tax base,” Foster said, suggesting that the county is trapped in a “vicious cycle” of rising taxes and declining economic prospects.
The county argues that county.services like the Sheriff’s Department and Emergency Services that serve Chestertown reasonably account for the tax differential. The town contends that it pays more for non-municipal services that it does not itself receive. Road maintenance is another county service that does not include the municipality.
“I think we can provide the same level of service for both police and roads by combining or putting it all under one umbrella,” Commissioner Price said.
Chestertown resident Michael McDowell commented after the meeting that “the three commissioners now need to open their all-too-general budget numbers to a forensic line-item-by-line-item look at where taxpayers money is actually being spent. Chestertown residents and their Mayor have been treated with disdain and contempt by them for two years now, most of all by Ron Fithian. We are tired of their ridiculous argument-by-single-anecdotes and evidence-free comments on “how much we do for you.” It’s a joke, as the University of Maryland deep-dive study clearly showed. The facts are there in black and white.
Details of the ongoing tax differential/rebate arguments have been shown in Mayor Foster’s Letter to the Editor here, and his recent February interview here.
Watch the full meeting here, starting at 31:58. For the discussion between Mayor Foster, Commissioners Price and Fithian go to 1:18:30.
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