At the close of the 2015 session of the Maryland General Assembly, the Chairmen of the Senate Budget and Taxation Committee and House Appropriations Committee issued a report that requested “an evaluation of the State’s land preservation and easement acquisition programs and all all capital and operating programs funded with the State transfer tax.” The evaluation was conducted by the Department of Natural Resources, Department of Agriculture, Department of Planning, and Department of Budget and Management, as well as workgroup participants representing local parks and recreation departments and other interested stakeholders.
Following several meetings and evaluations, the workgroup emphasizes three major recommendations in the report:
- Restore full funding of Maryland’s land preservation programs with transfer tax revenue at the earliest possible opportunity.
- Make no changes to the transfer tax allocation formula in statute.
- Amend the statute to give the local governments more flexibility in spending POS-Local funds on the acquisition and development projects that best meet their recreation and open space needs.
Read the full report here: Maryland’s Land Preservation Programs – Report to the Joint Chairmen.