County Councilman Steve McKay is optimistic the board will pass a bill that provides property tax credits for disabled veterans after McKay (R) and his colleagues workshopped the bill at a meeting this week.
Council Vice President Michael Blue (R), Councilman Kai Hagen (D) and Councilwoman Jessica Fitzwater (D) are co-sponsors of the measure through which veterans who qualify for a tax credit must have a “permanent service-connected disability of at least 50%,” according to the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs, and make $100,000 or less in federal adjusted gross income annually.
A preliminary fiscal note estimates that adopting the tax credit would cost the county about $1.6 million, but McKay said Friday he believes that amount will drop because it overestimated the number of disabled veterans who would qualify by hundreds of people.
“I don’t think it’s an insurmountable obstacle,” McKay said of convincing his colleagues to vote for the bill despite the fiscal impact.
Blue said he was surprised to see the high preliminary fiscal note, but he fully supports McKay’s legislation despite the challenges of balancing the budget.
“I’m going to find a way to see this pass … it’s just one more tough decision to make, but it is very reflective of the values Frederick County has,” Blue said.
Councilman Jerry Donald (D) is one of three council members not signed on as a sponsor. Donald wasn’t immediately opposed to the proposal, but he wanted to see the final fiscal impact and hear from County Executive Jan Gardner (D) and her administration.
He understands McKay’s argument to support disabled veterans but shared his broad overall opinion when it comes to most tax credits.
“As a rule, I prefer to not pick one group over another when it comes to taxes, except when it comes to income,” Donald said. “I prefer to help people in need — poorer people overall — I don’t prefer to do it by occupation.”
The income limit set forth in the bill, along with several other provisions, must follow state law passed by the Maryland General Assembly last year. The VA determines the scale of how much an injury prevents veterans from seeking employment, which determines the county tax credit.
Those with a “disabled veteran’s service-connected disability rating” of 75-99 percent can receive a 50 percent tax credit, and a rating of 50-74 percent qualifies a veteran for a 25 percent tax credit, McKay’s bill states.
Fred Schumacher, a U.S. Army veteran and past chair and current member of the county’s Veterans Advisory Council, explained the disability rating to council members at their Tuesday meeting. It’s a complex process completed by the VA that aims to see what injuries might contribute to a veteran’s health long-term, he said.
The disability rating might not be obvious to civilians, said Sharon Jacko, who served in the Marine Corps in Iraq.
“Just because you see somebody without a limb doesn’t mean they are disabled,” said Jacko, current chair of the Veterans Advisory Council. “Or just because you see somebody run down the street, you can’t assume they are abled.”
At its core, the bill requires council members to answer a simple question, McKay said: How much do they value the county’s disabled veterans?
“I personally place a high priority on them, and that’s why I argued that fiscal note is something where … I don’t care, I think that’s inconsequential compared to the cost these veterans have incurred themselves,” McKay said.
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