Talbot Voters Back Tax Cap Changes, Keep Residency Requirement for Top Appointees

A campaign focused on supporting police officers, emergency medical services personnel, and other first responders was successful in getting Talbot County voters to adopt three changes to the county’s property tax revenue cap.

Unofficial results with votes from early voting, election day, and absentee ballots shows passage of Ballot Questions B, C, and D.

Question D, which would allow the county council to temporarily increase the property tax rate above the revenue cap by up to one cent per $100 of assessed value for five years only, was approved 59% to 41% against, based on unofficial results.

Question B, which corrects inaccurate language in the tax cap approved by voters in 1996, had the largest margin of support with 72% voting for the charter amendment and 29% voting against.

Question C, to eliminate a reference to CPI-U, had 68% support. The existing property tax revenue cap limits the annual increase in property tax revenues to 2% or CPI-U, whichever is less.

However, Talbot County voters rejected a proposed charter change that would have allowed a super-majority of the county council to waive a residency requirement for the county attorney, engineer, and planning officer.

Question A was rejected 57% to 43%, according to unofficial results.

The unofficial results posted late Tuesday night after ballots cast on election day were counted largely mirrored the percentages seen in early and absentee voting.

A large number of Talbot County voters opted to cast ballots during early voting or by absentee ballot, with a smaller percentage voting Tuesday on the traditional Election Day.