In order to address long-standing issues with valuing the City’s sizable inventory of unimproved parcels, the Maryland State Department of Assessments and Taxation (SDAT) has announced a new project to increase the accuracy and uniformity of vacant property assessments in Baltimore City.
Local worries over uneven valuations and their effects on equity and redevelopment prompted the initiative.
Governor Moore appointed SDAT Director Bob Yeager in July, and he stressed the importance of updating evaluations in response to community input.
According to Yeager, the goal of this project is to make sure that assessments accurately represent the diversity of Baltimore’s neighborhoods and promote fair and open valuations throughout the city.
Neighborhood-Based Assessment and Long-Term Plan
Baltimore’s block-by-block property dynamics and historical anomalies in market data make valuing vacant land there especially difficult. The initiative’s top priorities are:
Analyzing recent land sales to realign assessments with current market activity Identifying all unimproved parcels within the current reassessment area Performing data integrity reviews to guarantee the accuracy of property records
