Montgomery County - High Performance Building Property Tax Credit (Maryland)

Summary

Last modified on February 12, 2015.

Financial Incentive Program

Place	Maryland
Name	Montgomery County - High Performance Building Property Tax Credit
Incentive Type	Property Tax Incentive
Applicable Sector	Commercial, Industrial, Multi-Family Residential
Eligible Technologies	Custom/Others pending approval, Passive Solar Space Heat, Solar Water Heat, Solar Space Heat, Photovoltaics, Wind, Biomass, Geothermal Heat Pumps, Daylighting, Small Hydroelectric
Active Incentive	Yes
Implementing Sector	Local
Energy Category	Renewable Energy Incentive Programs, Energy Efficiency Incentive Programs
Amount	10% to 75% credit from property taxes owed on building for 3-5 years; varies by building type and building rating
Eligible System Size	Building must meet minimum LEED standards (CS, NC, or EB) or equivalent to qualify
Start Date	2008-03-17
Maximum Incentive	Total: 5 million per fiscal year limit for all buildings Silver rating: 1.5 million per fiscal year Gold rating: 2.5 million per fiscal year
Program Administrator	Department of Finance
Website	http://www.montgomerycountymd.gov/mcgtmpl.asp?url=/content/finance/countytaxes_individualtaxes.asp
References	DSIREDatabase of State Incentives for Renewables and Efficiency

Summary

The state of Maryland permits local governments (Md Code: Property Tax § 9-242) to offer property tax credits for high performance buildings if they choose to do so. Montgomery County has exercised this option by offering property tax credits on new or extensively modified multi-family residential and commercial buildings that meet certain high performance building standards. An "extensive modification" is defined as a structural modification that alters 50% or more of the building's square footage.

The tax credit generally uses the U.S. Green Building Council's LEED rating system as a metric for determining how "green"' a building is, although buildings that achieve comparable ratings under other green building standards are also eligible for the tax credit. Tax credits are available for buildings that achieve minimum ratings under the LEED New Construction (NC); Core and Shell (CS); and Existing Building (EB).

The amount (10-75%) and term (3-5 years) of the tax credit varies based on the type project and the rating it achieves. See the table below for details. The term "covered" refers to new or substantially reconstructed non-residential and multi-family residential buildings over 10,000 square feet, which are already required by county law to meet the basic LEED certification standard or its equivalent. Thus the minimum standard for property tax credits on buildings of this type is correspondingly higher.

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Incentive Contact

Contact Name	High Performance Building Property Tax Information - Montgomery County
Department	Montgomery County Department of Finance
Division	Division of Treasury
Address	255 Rockville Pike, Suite L-15
Place	Rockville, Maryland
Zip/Postal Code	20850
Phone	(240) 777-8965
Email	treasury@montgomerycountymd.gov
Website	http://www.montgomerycountymd.gov/govtmpl.asp?url=/content/finance/index.asp

Authorities (Please contact the if there are any file problems.)

Authority 1:	Montgomery County Code Sec. 52-18Q
Date Effective	2008-03-17
Date Enacted	2007-12-17

• Incentive and policy data are reviewed and approved by the N.C. Solar Center's DSIRE project staff.