By KIT SLACK
On Jan. 8, longtime residents Jaqueline Grazette, of Bowie, and Janice Jefferson, of Suitland, asked a new county task force to address the quality of health care for seniors like themselves. Grazette cited high infection rates at the new county hospital, in Largo. Jefferson said she had to go outside the county to get the medical tests she needed.
County Council Chair Jolene Ivey (At-large) echoed their concerns, saying she had gone more than a year without a primary care provider. “I was just determined to find a Black woman doctor in Prince George’s County, and it took time,” Ivey said.
The county chartered the new task force, called Holistic and Sustainable Solutions for Seniors, in June 2024. In council meetings this fall, staff from the county executive’s office said that the task force would give recommendations on property tax relief for seniors by Feb. 28 of this year.

At the task force’s first meeting, Jan. 8, the group did not discuss tax relief. Sandra Eubanks, director of the county’s Health, Human Services and Public Safety committee, said the task force will meet virtually every month for a year before making recommendations. At the meetings, county agencies will make presentations about existing services for county seniors.
The chair of the task force, County Councilmember Sidney Harrison (District 9), said that though “this conversation started when the senior tax credit was introduced,” he believes that meeting for a full year will give the task force the opportunity to better develop solutions on a wide range of challenges for seniors.
“Food insecurity is a serious challenge in our community for all ages right now,” said Harrison, adding “the price of housing is astronomical.”
Harrison said that, given the county’s tight budget, the committee would need to prioritize solutions and to consider tiered or staggered approaches.
This fall, Harrison was one of only two county councilmembers, along with Calvin Hawkins (At-large), who declined to support revisiting tax relief for seniors, citing a looming county budget deficit and concern about preserving the county’s AAA bond rating.
A tale of two (new) elderly tax credits
On Nov. 12, 2024, the county council changed the tax relief available to residents over 65. The Revised Elderly Property Tax Credit (County Bill-007-2024) makes a larger benefit available to seniors as compared to the original Elderly Property Tax Credit (CB-029-2022) adopted two years ago.
In December 2024, however, acting County Executive Tara Jackson and the county council published a letter promising to withdraw the Revised Elderly Property Tax Credit, and introduce a new version early in 2025.
Under the November 2024 Revised Elderly Property Tax Credit, seniors who had lived in the county for 25 years and had homes valued at $500,000 or less could have applied to get 20% off their property taxes, on top of any other tax credits they received.
Under the prior Elderly Property Tax Credit, passed in 2022, seniors who had lived in the county for only 10 years and had homes valued at $515,000 or less could apply to have their property taxes reduced 20%. However, seniors got relief under the program only to the extent that other tax credits, designed to support low-income homeowners and prevent large tax increases, had not already reduced their property taxes by 20%.
How much do tax credits save seniors and cost the county?
The original 2022 Elderly Property Tax Credit reduced property tax collections by $1.96 million in one year, according to a March 2024 county staff report, saving 5,030 of the county’s seniors an average of about $390 each.
Other tax credits can provide relief of more than 20% for some seniors. The state homeowners’ property tax credit caps property taxes for households with an income of $60,000 or less. The state homestead property tax credit keeps property taxes from going up by capping increases in home value used to calculate taxes.
For the coming fiscal year, the homestead tax credit program caps increases in taxable home value at 3% in Prince George’s County, and is projected to reduce county tax revenues by $108 million in one year, according to the county’s fiscal year 2025 budget.
The Revised Elderly Property Tax Credit would cost the county as much as $98 million over the next 10 years, according to county executive staff who urged councilmembers not to pass the revision during the November meeting. Staff also raised concerns about a political backlash from seniors who had lived in the county more than 10 years but fewer than 25, who would lose eligibility because they qualified under the 2022 version of the law but not under the November 2024 version.
So, what tax credit will it be?
John Erzen, deputy chief of staff for former County Executive Angela Alsobrooks, said in the Nov. 12, 2024, meeting that staff were running numbers to support a proposal to be introduced via the task force. He said they were considering eligibility criteria including household income, home value, and length of residency in the county. He asked the council to hold off on voting and wait for a Feb. 28 task force report proposing the best path forward.
Near the end of the Jan. 8 task force meeting, in which the tax credit was not on the agenda, recently elected Council Vice Chair Ed Burroughs (District 8) was invited to say a few words. “Our seniors helped build this county, and there are so many seniors who can’t afford to live and thrive in the county they helped build,” he said, after expressing gratitude to those in attendance.
Burroughs, who is featured in a video on the county website promoting the original 2022 Elderly Property Tax Credit, led the effort over the past year to revise and expand the credit to provide more meaningful support to seniors. He has often spoken of a 100-year-old resident in his district, who worked in the county school system for 30 years, and is in danger of losing her house.
As of press time, the Revised Elderly Property Tax Credit had not been withdrawn, and no new legislation had yet been introduced.
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The window for applications for the Elderly Property Tax Credit is closed, and will open again May 1, at propertytaxcredit.princegeorgescountymd.gov. Applications for the state’s homestead and homeowners property tax credits are at onestop.md.gov.