Renew Baltimore submits 23,000+ signatures in support of ballot question to cut property tax

The organizers behind a much-anticipated ballot question asking voters to slash the city’s property tax rate submitted more than 23,000 signatures Thursday, more than double the number needed to place the question on the ballot.

The proposed question would ask voters to cut the city’s property tax rate from 2.248% to 1.2% over seven years. After that, the rate would be capped.

Proposed by a coalition of economists and former city officials calling themselves Renew Baltimore, the group argues the cut would attract more residents and businesses to the city, increasing its tax base and offsetting the multimillion-dollar hit to city revenue.

Supporters gathered Thursday for a rally in front of City Hall behind a pile of boxes stacked high containing signed petitions. Citizens petitioning to place a question on the ballot need 10,000 signatures from qualified city voters. Petitions are due by July 29.

“No city can thrive when it penalizes its residents with a tax rate that is twice as high as that that is available right next door,” said Stephen J.K. Walters, a Loyola University economics professor backing Renew Baltimore.

Supporters held charts indicating that populations grew in cities like Washington, D.C., Boston and San Francisco after property tax reforms were implemented there. They also suggested crime would decrease in Baltimore following the cut based upon those comparisons.

The proposed question is not yet on the ballot, but it already faces opposition from a coalition of labor organizations, social justice groups and elected officials who launched a campaign against the proposal last week. The opposition group, which is backed by nearly half the members of the Baltimore City Council, Mayor Brandon Scott and several unions representing city employees, argued the decrease in tax revenue would lead to catastrophic cuts to city services including a reduction in fire companies, teacher layoffs, the closure of one-third of neighborhood libraries and the end of the Safe Streets violence prevention program.

Baltimore had about $3.6 billion of revenue in fiscal year 2023, according to the city’s annual audited financial report. Almost 30% of that money — about $1 billion — came from the property tax.

Christopher Meyer, a research analyst with the Maryland Center on Economic Policy, said last week Baltimore would need to gain 325,000 new residents within seven years to maintain existing tax revenue if the cut is enacted.

Renew Baltimore organizers say those calculations fail to account for additional jobs created by businesses moving to the city and boosted revenue from increasing property values.

Ben Frederick, a real estate broker on the leadership team for Renew Baltimore, argued in an interview with The Baltimore Sun that the lower tax rate will certainly attract new residents to the city. He compared the policy to the speed cameras installed on Interstate 83. Drivers have slowed down in response, he said.

“Government policy affects human behavior,” he said. “If a policy is instituted with lower property taxes, will that change people’s behavior? The answer is yes, of course.”

Organizers argue the proof can be found in the city’s waterfront neighborhoods where tax credits have been concentrated. Population there has increased while residents have fled from neighborhoods across the rest of the city. Baltimore has been losing population for years. Census data shows a migration of people from historically Black neighborhoods relocating to areas with a higher cost of living.

“All we want to do is take it citywide,” Frederick said. “If low property taxes are good for large politically connected developers, why aren’t they good for everybody?”

Carl Stokes, a former Baltimore City councilman who is supporting Renew Baltimore, said Thursday that the query raised by opponents about how the proposed reduction in city revenue can be made up was a “stupid, disingenuous question.” He noted that the city has given tax breaks in exchange for development, pointing to one for the waterfront Marriott hotel.

“Who made up the difference? Who made up the gap?” he asked. “I’ve made it up … All of the people who are homeowners of Baltimore City made it up.”

Opponents argue that investors fueling gentrifying waterfront neighborhoods would still benefit from Renew’s proposed tax reduction as would wealthy, predominantly white homeowners. Campaign finance records show developers and companies dealing in real estate have been some of the largest financial backers of Renew’s campaign. The Greater Baltimore Board of Realtors PAC gave $23,000 to the effort while the Maryland Multi-Housing Association PAC contributed $30,000, records show.

Other contributions include:

• $25,000 each from CFG Community Bank and Terra Nova Ventures;
• $15,100 from Frederick of Ben Frederick Realty;
• $10,000 each from Benjamin Griswold IV, a partner at Brown Investment Advisory Trust; HHG LLC a corporation listed at Brown Investment’s Fells Point address; and former mayoral candidate Mary Miller;
• $12,184 from Matt Wyskiel, a North Baltimore wealth manager who has also given thousands of dollars of in-kind donations to the effort.

Scott is expected to issue a statement on Renew Baltimore later Thursday.

Renew’s petition campaign is one of many this cycle aimed at placing questions on ballots in November. So far, only one has formally secured a spot. That effort, sponsored by the People for Elected Accountability & Civic Engagement, would ask voters to slash the size of the City Council by half. David Smith, chairman of Sinclair Broadcast Group and co-owner of The Baltimore Sun, has principally funded the petition drive.

Three other petition efforts have also submitted signatures with the July 29 deadline still more than a month away. Those include the Maryland Child Alliance, which is petitioning to establish a fund called the Baby Bonus which would pay parents of newborn children $1,000 upon their arrival. Signatures have also been submitted by groups hoping to create a community wealth building fund and a fund to advocate for a regional transit authority.

Last week, a group led by former mayoral candidate Thiru Vignarajah began collecting signatures in support of a ballot question that would ask voters to establish a dedicated park system that could not be disrupted by private development. The proposal is aimed at derailing the proposed redevelopment of Harborplace which calls for 900 apartments to be built in a conjoined tower on the city’s waterfront.

Additional ballot questions will likely be put to voters this fall at the behest of the Baltimore City Council. The council can place a measure on the ballot without collecting signatures if the mayor also consents. Questions asking voters to establish local control of the city’s police department and to clear the way for the proposed Harborplace development have already been approved by the mayor and council. Others, including competing proposals on redistricting, are still under consideration.