Baltimore City Council approves tax hike for vacant properties to address blight

BALTIMORE — The Baltimore City Council approved a bill Monday to create a special property tax rate increase for vacant properties.  

The legislation increases taxes on vacant properties three times the current tax rate starting in the 2026-2027 tax year.

"The goal here isn't to actually make money," said Councilwoman Odette Ramos. "The goal here is to make sure we get more properties in the in rem pipeline."

In rem means the city can take control of the property in foreclosure court. Ramos said out of the 13,000 vacant properties city-wide, the city owns roughly 800.

She said in order for city leaders to tackle Baltimore's vacant home crisis, the city needs to own these buildings.

"The quickest way and the most efficient way is through this in rem foreclosure process," she said.

Ramos said about 36,000 vacant properties are eligible for the tax hike. Council anticipates this legislation would increase this figure between 10% and 20% a year.

"That's significant in terms of being able to acquire the property and get them into the hands of people who are going to do something with them," Ramos said.

Addressing the vacant home crisis

Ramos said this legislation is part of the work to revitalize city blocks. Council members have pushed for a bill of this kind for years in an effort to advance revitalization across the city.

"To ensure that, again, we're tackling vacancies on a holistic level," said City Council President Nick Mosby. "This puts Baltimore in a different perspective of dealing with the vacancy that we've seen throughout East and West Baltimore for decades upon decades upon decades.  "

Ramos called this a collaborative effort between city council and state representatives.

"We together worked on this bill to get it over the finish line," she said. "I want to thank Delegate [Regina] Boyce and Senator [Antonio] Hayes for sponsoring the legislation that allows us to do this. That had to be done at the General Assembly."

Next steps

The bill will be sent to the mayor's desk.

Ramos said from now until the tax takes effect, there's a period to get everything set up. She said right now, city leaders will work to reach out to vacant property owners out about tax hike to come and ensuring the right entities are properly taxed.

"We're thinking about relative to people who may have inadvertently bought a rehab house that still has a vacant building notice on it because the rehaber did not use permits," she said. "So if anybody that's listening is in that boat, we need to hear from them so that we can work with them to make sure that they no longer have a vacant property."