WBJ: D.C. targets blighted property, not vacant ones
Washington Business Journal - by Jonathan O'Connell Staff Reporter
Less than a year after doubling D.C.’s vacant property tax rate, the D.C. Council terminated the vacant rate altogether on Tuesday and created a new rate to target owners of blighted or nuisance property.
Last year, the council doubled the vacant rate from $5 per $100 of assessed value to $10 per $100 of assessed value at the suggestion of Councilman Kwame Brown, D-at large. It was an attempt to nudge owners of vacant homes and nuisance properties into action. The $10 rate was more than 10 times the residential rate of 85 cents and more than five times the commercial rates of $1.65 to $1.85, prompting complaints from some homeowners and real estate investors.
In a preliminary July vote, the council agreed to return the rate to $5. But in passing final budget legislation Tuesday, councilmembers — again at Brown’s suggestion — did away with the vacant rate altogether, saying it had produced unintended consequences, and replaced it with a $10 rate that will apply only to blighted properties. A blighted property is “unsafe, insanitary, or which is otherwise determined to threaten the public health, safety, or general welfare of the community” because of broken walls, roofs, windows, balconies or other poorly kept features. Boarded up properties will also count as blighted.
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