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Appeals board misses managing-for-results filing; acting representative pledges report by July 15, 2025
Summary
Department of Legislative Services told the Public Safety and Administration Subcommittee that the Property Tax Assessment Appeals Board did not submit required managing-for-results data; a board representative said staff turnover caused the lapse and committed to delivering the submission by July 15, 2025.
The Department of Legislative Services told the Public Safety and Administration Subcommittee of Appropriations that the Property Tax Assessment Appeals Board did not submit updated managing-for-results (MFR) performance data for the fiscal 2026 allowance, a lapse the agency attributed to staff departures.
David, an analyst for the Department of Legislative Services, summarized the board’s budget and performance data and recommended that the subcommittee adopt narrative language requiring the board to provide its fiscal 2026 MFR submission with calendar 2023 actuals and calendar 2024–2025 estimates by July 15, 2025.
The board is an independent state agency with one local board in each county and in Baltimore City, for a total of 24 local boards supported by a central office. Local boards have four to six members appointed by the governor for five-year terms. The board’s fiscal 2026 allowance increases by about $47,000, or 3.7 percent, to $1,300,000, DLS reported. As of Dec. 31, 2024, the central office showed one vacant administrative position.
DLS presented historical appeals data showing the board improved its appeals clearance rate after pandemic disruptions and reduced backlog to near 2018 levels. The analyst also showed that reversals by the Maryland Tax Court have generally fallen since 2018; the reversal rate was 5 percent in calendar 2022 and was estimated at 7 percent in calendar 2023. The DLS analyst said the board attributed the improvement to new-hire training and periodic member training and asked the board to comment on when those training changes were instituted.
Miss Wiggins, a representative of the Property Tax Assessment Appeals Board, told the subcommittee the agency lacked staff when the MFR deadline passed and said, “I have committed to providing this information by July fifteenth of 2025.” She told members that recent appointment activity had brought many new board members into service and described training arrangements in which senior board members and central-office staff conduct case-based onboarding and periodic sessions.
Committee members pressed Wiggins on board vacancies and whether local boards could convene. Wiggins said some counties have too few members or face conflicts of interest that limit their ability to hear specific appeals; she identified Talbot County as one jurisdiction with a challenge and said she was working with the appointments office and other stakeholders on solutions.
The Department of Legislative Services provided recommended committee narrative asking for the overdue MFR data and asking the board to explain its training timeline for new and continuing board members. The subcommittee did not take a recorded vote during the discussion.
