WILLIAM DONALD SCHAEFER, Governor

necessary to carry out this subtitle and to define any terms used

in it.

Chapter 769 of the Acts of 1981,
as amended by Chapter 616 of the Acts of 1983
and Chapter 671 of the Acts of 1987

SECTION 2. AND BE IT FURTHER ENACTED, That this Act shall
take effect July 1, 1981[, and shall remain effective for a
period of 8 years and, at the end of June 30, 1989, and with no
further action required by the General Assembly, this Act shall
be abrogated and of no further force and effect].

SECTION 2. AND BE IT FURTHER ENACTED, That this Act shall
take effect July 1, 1989.

May 25, 1989

The Honorable Thomas V. Mike Miller, Jr.

President of the Senate

State House

Annapolis, Maryland 21401

Dear Mr. President:

In accordance with Article II, Section 17 of the Maryland
Constitution, I have today vetoed Senate Bill 617.

This bill provides that real property, which is rezoned at the
initiative of a government and has been used as a principal
residence of the owner for the immediately preceding 5 years,
will be assessed on the basis of its residential use instead of
its higher intensity use. The residential assessment would
continue for as long as the property remains in residential use
by the owner or by his or her immediate family.

While I am certainly sympathetic to the problems of homeowners
faced with significantly higher property tax bills resulting from
rezoning and consequential higher assessments, I do not believe
that changing the assessment system is the proper way to afford
relief.

The State of Maryland enjoys an efficient and equitable statewide
program for assessing real property. Part of the success of our
program can be attributed to the fact that the real estate
assessors in the field need look only to the existing zoning
classification of the property being assessed to determine the
proper basis for the assessment. This bill, on the other hand,

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