Anne Arundel County Council unanimously approved a ten-year, $11.4 million loan to fund the construction of community-owned facilities including a boathouse, guest cottages and a clubhouse on Gibson Island. There are also plans to repair and improve a private causeway, the only access road on and off the island.

In order to pay the loan, residents of Gibson Island will pay a higher property tax than the rest of the county, according to an invoice approved Monday. The loan agreement, along with a series of other projects planned for the island such as repairing lampposts, roads, storm drains and controlling shoreline erosion, adds about 25 cents to the rate of Property Taxation of Gibson Island Residents.

County Executive Steuart Pittman’s proposed budget for fiscal year 2023 keeps the tax rate for county property owners at the same level as the current year – at 93.3 cents per $100. Meanwhile, residents of Gibson Island will pay the same rate they paid last year, about 1.18 cents per $100, according to invoice. The tax rate will come into effect on July 1, if approved by the county council.

The agreement is between M&T Bank and the Gibson Island Special Community Benefit District. The county’s only involvement is to review and approve it, said Pete Baron, Pittman’s director of government relations.

The island is located between the Magothy River and the Chesapeake Bay in the northern part of the county.

Special Community Benefit Districts are county communities that can request an increase in their property taxes and have the additional revenue spent only on their community, depending on the county code. Gibson Island is one of about 70 special tax districts for community benefits in Anne Arundel County. Others include Arundel-on-the-Bay, Cape St. Claire and Hollywood on the Severn.

“Anne Arundel is a bit unique in that we have a lot of them,” said county budget officer Chris Trumbauer.

It’s a win-win situation for the Special Community Benefits District and the rest of county residents, Trumbauer said, because district residents can choose which upgrades they want to spend money on without raising rates. taxation of residents of other regions.

Like Gibson Island, many other special community benefit districts include many waterfront properties, he said.

Gibson Island is one of the wealthiest places in Maryland, often ranked as the most expensive zip code in the state and one of the most expensive in the country. In 2021, the island’s median sale price – the average sale price for homes in the area – was around $3.2 million, according to research by real estate website Property Shark.

“Every county resident pays their property tax, but if you live in one of these Special Community Benefit Districts, you have agreed to a higher rate which will change based on the Special Community Benefit District’s budget,” said said Baron.

Some of the decisions to raise taxes for those districts can be controversial, Trumbauer said, because some property owners may not want to spend their money on certain community amenities. However, the bar for obtaining approval for a project requiring a tax increase is high – a majority of owners must be in favor of the change.