The Prince George’s County Council passed a package of bills Tuesday that would make it more expensive for commercial and residential building owners to let the properties sit vacant.
One of the bills would see the property tax rate jump to five times the normal rate for properties left vacant and dormant.
Council Chair Krystal Oriadha, the lead sponsor of the legislation, said the current system gives property owners little reason to act. Some of the current fines for code violations can be as low as $1,000 a year, which in her words is “nothing” for the banks that might own the property.
A second bill increases penalties for owners whose vacant properties become run down or blighted.
The goal of the legislation, Oriadha told WTOP, isn’t to collect more tax revenue. It’s to push owners to sell, renovate, or find tenants for properties that drag down surrounding home values and leave commercial corridors looking neglected.
Click here to read the rest of the article written by John Domen over at WTOP
