Frederick County Council To Consider Updating Tax Credit For Daycare Centers

A bill would increase the credit to $10,000.Frederick, Md (KM) Legislation to incentivize the creation of more day care centers in Frederick County was discussed by the Council on Tuesday.One of the sponsors is Councilwoman Renee Knapp who says it would increase the property tax credit for work on a home or work place  for day care centers. “It increases the allowable credit to $10,000 per property. That was an issue in the original bill when we were deliberating. There was concern that $3,000 is not really a game-changing amount of money,” she said.”It’s not nothing; don’t get me wrong,” Knapp said, commenting the current $3,000 tax credit. “When you’re talking about making modifications to a home or something like that,, $10,000 is more an incentive to get into that business.”Businesses of 25 or more employees could set up day care centers and also receive this tax credit under this proposed bill.These changes to Frederick County’s local ordinance on day care centers follows actions by the General Assembly, especially the increases in the property tax credit from $3,000 to $10,000.  Councilwoman Knapp calls the County’s bill “a great step forward.”   She says there’s a need for more day care centers. “In the northern part of the county, there’s a great reliance on home-based care. Hopefully, this will incentivize more business creation in the direction of creating more child cares,” Knapp said.But Councilman Steve McKay said there needs to be some rules for businesses and homeowners who set aside part of their properties for day care, and get the tax credit. “So businesses-base is pretty exclusively. It’s got to be dedicated exclusively for a child cared center. I think I understand what that model is,” he says. “For the home base, someone’s dedicated a portion of their home, right. And, for IRS purposes, if you’re deducting that, there are specific rules. I’d just like to know how we’re addressing that.””There ought to be something in the application process that an applicant can supply that demonstrates that they are running a day care,” McKay continues. “Particularly, the at-home.”The Council is expected to discuss this bill at a future meeting.By Kevin McManus