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92 Maryland Attorney General Reports and Opinions 3 (2007)

handle is hein.sag/sagmd0030 and id is 1 raw text is: ENVIRONMENT FEES - REAL PROPERTY - WHETHER UNPAID BAY RESTORATION FEE CONSTITUTES A LIEN ON REAL PROPERTY June 14, 2007 The Honorable Pamela R. Howard Cecil County Treasurer You have requested our opinion concerning the collection of the Bay Restoration Fee. Specifically, you asked whether an unpaid charge is a lien on real property that may be collected through the tax sale process. For the reasons explained below, we conclude as follows: 1. An unpaid tax or fee does not constitute a lien on real property unless the lien is expressly provided by law. The statute establishing the Bay Restoration Fee does not itself create a statutory lien. Rather, that statute authorizes local governments and other billing authorities to use their existing procedures for collecting water and sewer bills to collect the Bay Restoration Fee -procedures that may be used to collect various types of charges in addition to water and sewer fees. In some jurisdictions, current law may provide for a lien that would encompass other charges that may appear on a water or sewer bill, such as the Bay Restoration Fee. However, a local law simply making unpaid water or sewerage charges themselves a lien would be insufficient to create a lien for other unpaid charges. 2. Absent a statutory lien, an unpaid charge may not be collected through the tax sale process. We recommend that the General Assembly consider the merits of creating a statutory lien for unpaid charges to provide a more uniform enforcement mechanism for collection of the Bay Restoration Fee. 3

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