Committee debates senior property-tax credit language and fiscal cost estimates

Committee staff presented CB94, a proposed county property-tax credit for low-income elderly homeowners, and Finance and OMB analysts walked members through preliminary fiscal estimates and drafting concerns.

Finance staff (using June 2024 data) said an approach tying the county credit to 50% of the state homeowner's credit would cost about $418,000 based on 2024 applicants and could escalate to roughly $700,000 annually by 2028 under certain assumptions. OMB warned the committee that the county faces "a sizable gap currently where revenues are not meeting expenditures" and urged caution about reducing revenues without a plan to close that gap. Staff and members agreed to a technical amendment to specify that the county credit equals "50% of the state homeowner's property tax credit awarded to the eligible individual for that tax year, not to exceed the county property tax levy for that year." The bill and related senior tax proposals were routed to the next Upper Floor Policy (UFP) meeting for further refinement and data updates.