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From Janice Washington, Treasurer CBCIA:

Greetings:

The following is meant to provide information on the main sources of revenue used to maintain and improve our community. In 1971, the Anne Aundel County Council designated Columbia Beach as a special community benefit district (SCBD). A SCBD is a geographic area of the County established by legislation to provide special benefits to properties that would not otherwise receive the benefits. Columbia Beach sought this status in order to raise funds to operate its community. Examples of such benefits include maintenance of community-owned property; maintenance of private roads; and snow removal.

The Columbia Beach SCBD is administered by the Columbia Beach Citizens Improvement Association, Inc. (CBCIA), a community association that provides for membership to all property owners in the district. Each year property owners agree to be taxed at a rate they determine is necessary to fund their budget for the upcoming fiscal year. The community then submits a budget request to the County. Once approved, the County collects the taxes and disburses the funds to the community. The method of taxation chosen by the CBCIA is the uniform rate of assessment based on the taxable assessment of property in the SCBD.

The County Council also designated Columbia Beach as a shore erosion control district (SECD). Similarly, each year property owners agree to be taxed at a rate they determine is necessary to fund this budget - which is separate from the SCBD budget - for the next fiscal year. In 2009, the community took out an interest-free loan through the State of Maryland’s Department of Natural Resources to fund a comprehensive shore erosion control project. Construction began in 2010 and the project should take less than a year to complete. Revenue collected from the SECD taxes will be used to repay the loan from the state and to fund other projects related to shore erosion control.

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