MontCo Owes Residents $2.5M in Energy Tax Credits

By: Rachel Baye Examiner Staff Writer 08/13/11 8:05 PM

A property tax credit program designed to reward Montgomery County residents for using renewable energy-based heating and cooling systems has a $2.5 million backlog of payments owed to residents, according to Joe Beach, director of the county's Department of Finance.

On June 30, the end of fiscal 2011, 501 people were on a waiting list to receive tax credit payouts from the county. Some of them might have to wait as long as six years for a payment, Beach said, since the county hasn't allocated enough money to pay before then. So far, 276 credits have been issued in the program's three years of operation.

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Though county officials said they regret not being able to pay residents, they also said it's unlikely that they can change that anytime soon.

"We're not sitting on lots of spare cash," said County Councilman George Leventhal, D-at large. "It's really unfortunate. This is a really good program."

Enacted in 2008, the program has an annual cap of $400,000 for renewable energy devices. One way to reduce the waiting list is to raise the cap, said Beach, whether temporarily or long term. But raising the limit means the cash-strapped county has to find more funds for the program.

Read more at the Washington Examiner: http://washingtonexaminer.com/news/business/2011/08/montco-owes-residents-25m-energy-tax-credits#disqus_thread#ixzz1Uxu2pp44