The fiscal year of the Town of Bel Air shall
begin on the first day of July of a calendar year and end on the last
day of June of the next calendar year.
The Town Administrator shall prepare and submit to the Board of Town Commissioners a proposed budget in accordance with the provisions of Article VII, Section 702(a) of the Charter of the Town of Bel Air.
[Amended 3-3-2008 by Ord. No. 705-08]
Whenever the Town shall provide any special
service, benefit or improvement to or for any real property within
the Town, shall abate any nuisances existing on real property at the
Town's expense or shall remove prohibited objects from such real property
or from any street, road, alley or sidewalk on which such property
abuts at the Town's expense, then the value of such service, benefit,
or improvement or the cost of such abatement or removal may be charged
to the owner of such real property, or both the owner and occupant
if such property is not owner-occupied, and shall be a lien upon such
real property until paid, to be collected in the same manner as municipal
taxes are collected. Liens hereby established shall be subject only
to liens for state, county, and municipal real estate taxes.
A.
Subject to the provisions of this section, there shall
be allowed a tax credit on Town real property taxes based upon the
amount expended by a private owner-taxpayer for restoration and preservation
of any structure having historic or architectural value which is located
within any historic district and/or site designated by the Historic
Preservation Commission.[1] The tax credit shall be limited to those expenses having
to do with exterior features of a structure only, which include appurtenances
and environmental settings, and not to expenses relating to the interior
of a structure which are not subject to the jurisdiction of the Historic
Preservation Commission. The tax credit shall be in an amount equal
to 10% of the owner's expense for such restoration and preservation,
as indicated by properly documented receipts.
B.
There shall be allowed a tax credit on Town real property
taxes based upon the amount expended by an owner-taxpayer for new
construction adjacent to and architecturally compatible with any structure
having historic or architectural value which is located within any
historic district and/or site designated by the Historic Preservation
Commission. The tax credit shall be in an amount equal to 5% of the
owner's expense of the cost of construction of an architecturally
compatible new structure, as indicated by properly documented receipts.
C.
The tax credits referred to herein shall be allowed
for the Town tax year immediately subsequent to the year in which
the restoration or preservation work is completed, and any unused
portion of this tax credit may be carried forward to subsequent tax
years, not to exceed five tax years.
D.
Application for the tax credit referred to in this
section shall be submitted with the certificate of approval application
and shall be made at the time that the application is made for the
building permit. At the time the Historic Preservation Commission
takes action on the application for the certificate of approval for
the work to be done it shall also make a determination whether the
proposed work is eligible for the tax credit provided for in this
section and shall also determine whether the structure has historic
or architectural value within the meaning of § 9-204 of
the Tax-Property Article of the Annotated Code of Maryland, as amended.
It is the intent of this section that the Historic Preservation Commission
be liberal in such determination. The tax credit application shall
not be finally approved until final inspection and approval of the
work by the Historic Preservation Commission or its designated staff
and until the receipts required by this section have been filed with
the Historic Preservation Commission, accompanied by the oath or affirmation
of the owner-taxpayer, on such forms prescribed by the Commission,
that the receipts are those for the actual expenditures in connection
with the restoration and preservation of the structure.
E.
Notwithstanding any provision in this section to the
contrary, no tax credit shall be allowed for any restoration or preservation
work which has not been reviewed and approved in advance by the Historic
Preservation Commission.
F.
The Historic Preservation Commission shall deny the
credit if any aspect of the restoration and preservation work or new
construction is not done in accordance with the Town of Bel Air Historic
Preservation Commission Design Guidelines for Rehabilitation, Maintenance
and New Construction.
G.
The approved application in the amount determined
by the Historic Preservation Commission shall be forwarded to the
Town Finance Department to be acted upon.
The salaries of the Commissioners and Chair
of the Board of Town Commissioners shall be $4,800 and $6,000 per
year, respectively.
The Board of Town Commissioners shall exercise
its authority to designate, by resolution, fees for special events
held on Town property. Exemptions to the fees shall also be designated
by resolution.