That property the commissioners are buying is sure a lot like mine

by David Grand
September, 2009

As I watched the commissioners recently on local TV agreeing to purchase a single-story, rancher located at 737 Old Baltimore RD in Westminster for $635,000, I figured it's gotta be a luxurious house in an upscale neighborhood, probably with a built-in pool and lots of ground to command that price.

The next day, just for the heck of it, I checked with the Maryland Department of Assessments and Taxation and found, that it was built in 1967 on a lot of 1.34 acres, had an enclosed area of 1,410 sq. ft., a brick exterior, a garage, and that Its assessed value as of 1/01/2009 was $266,440.

Wow, I said out loud enough to startle my dogs, that nearly fits a description of my property to a tee, the only differences being, that mine is a prefab house on 1.677 acres (pieced together in 1983), has a vinyl exterior, and was assessed as of 1/01/2009 at $267, 470.
What in the world, I wondered, were the commissioners doing in paying well over two time the assessed value for that similar property, especially when there's a depressed housing market?

But then it hit me like a bolt of lightening, when I saw the owner's name on the property data search sheet. For it was no one other than Roger Mann, who served as commissioner from 1974 to 1982.

Now, I don't mean to imply, that what can only be described as a "sweetheart deal" (at least for Mann, if not for the taxpayers), was because of the former position he held. But if not, that raises the question as to why were those county officials who negotiated the purchase price so overly generous?

And as best as I could understand in listening to the justification offered for buying that property was, that it would be used for expediting traffic from the Naganna subdivision across the road from Mann's parcel, thereby creating a new roundabout on Old Westminster Pike and a connector road to Market Street at Rt. 140.

Interestingly, no mention was made of Dr.Naganna offering or being required to reimburse the county for all or a portion of the purchase price for Mann's property, albeit he would reap the major benefits from that roundabout.

And talking about putting the proverbial cart before the horse, the City of Westminster's planning commission has yet to approve the Naganna subdivision, and has serious doubts about being able to provide it with adequate water.

In sum, faced as the county is with a $7.8 million budget shortfall, which could balloon even more were the state to follow through on its plans to dump paying teacher's pensions on the counties, you'd think the commisioners would be skinflints rather than spendthrifts with what's left in the county's coffers.

But apparently they've come to relate more with Scrooge's generous nature after his conversion rather than to the cheapskate he'd been.