The following records retention schedule has been approved by Maryland State Archives and the Board of Public Works. It has been assigned Schedule No. 2286, 2311, 1183A-1.
ASSESSMENT ROLLS
Produced annually showing property account information as of July 1 including: election district, account number, legal description, owner, deed reference, and full cash value.
Before tax year 1982-83:
Retain the original hard copy assessment rolls in respective offices as inquiry demands and space permits or offer to Hall of Records. If Hall of Records does not accept, and the rolls have been copied to microfilm, then destroy. If not on microfilm ask permission from Hall of Records to destroy
Tax Years 1982-83 through 1999-2000:
Microfiche copies of the roll will be centrally delivered to the local assessment offices and Hall of Records. Local assessment offices should permanently retain their copies.
Tax Year 2000-2001 and beyond:
Three (3) copies of the assessment roll will be produced on compact disk by SDAT OIT Division. OIT will deliver one copy to Hall of Records, one copy to the local assessment office and retain one copy for installation of the current assessment roll on local public access computers. Local assessment offices should retain their assessment roll CD permanently.
ASSESSMENT FIELD CARDS
Assessment Field Cards were used to record full cash values, ownership changes, legal description and other general property information for real property accounts. Assessment Field Cards ceased to be used with the implementation of computer assisted mass appraisal (CAMA). However, local offices will continue to store the cards in the various offices for historical, administrative and resource purposes.
Retain permanently and transfer periodically to the Maryland St. Archives.
TAX MAPS (PROPERTY MAPS)
Property maps are created, maintained and supplied to local assessment offices by the Maryland Office of Planning.
Copies should be retained until superseded.
SUBDIVISION PLATS
These show property boundary descriptions. Local Assessments Offices receive copies and originals are on file with the Clerk of the Court.
Retain five (5) years and then destroy.
APPLICATION FOR TAX EXEMPTION
Blind persons, charitable institutions, disabled veterans, disabled active duty service members, churches, educational property, and benevolent organizations are required to apply for a tax exemption. Form gives name, address, description of property, account number, doctor's certificate (where applicable), official remarks and assessor's signature.
Retain until superseded, until exemption is removed, or until appeal period has lapsed; then destroy.
ASSESSMENT APPEAL CORRESPONDENCE & FORMS
Includes all appeal (both general review and petition for review), filings and correspondence through all levels of appeal, including owners’ appeal request, authorization of representation, assessors hearing notes, evidence submitted by owner and assessor (appeal forms AP1 and AP2); appeal decisions and settlement agreements.
Retain seven (7) years, and then destroy
GENERAL CORRESPONDENCE
Correspondence with government officials, individuals, organizations and agencies concerning the business of the assessment office. Included are reports, publications and statistical tables used in daily business, but considered "non-record".
Retain for three (3) years, then destroy.
ASSESSMENT CHANGE REPORT
This form is used for assessment changes in conjunction with the Office of the Comptroller form for reconciliation of assessable base.
Retain for four (4) years, then destroy.
APPLICATION FOR TAX CREDIT (Other than Homeowners’ and Renters’)
Tax credits are administered by the Department pursuant to Tax-Property Article and are filed in order to receive applicable credit. These applications include:
Enterprise Zone Tax Credit Application
Conservation Easement Application
Medical Necessity Credit Application
Retain until superseded or until credit is removed, then destroy.
AGRICULTURAL TRANSFER TAX STATEMENT AND DECLARATION OF INTENT
The computation sheet for payment of agricultural transfer tax and Declaration of Intent to continue agricultural activity after property transfer.
Retain seven (7) years, and then destroy.
AGRICULTURAL USE APPLICATION (RP-4)
These are completed by property owners to receive agricultural use assessment.
Retain until agricultural assessment is removed, then destroy.
BUILDING PERMITS
This form is initiated by each jurisdictions permit office upon application by a property owner. A copy of the permit is forwarded to the local assessment office. It serves as a discovery document and contains specific information on the construction of new improved.
Retain three (3) years, after construction has been completed or until permit is void, and then destroy.
ELECTRONIC FILE MAINTENANCE
DAT maintains real property data in 24 master files at the Annapolis Data Center, one for each of the 23 counties and Baltimore City. Additions, changes, and deletions to these files are submitted through either an on-line or batch application by the assessment office in the respective jurisdiction. The offices update the master files each day. These applications generate a print representation per record account ID of what was modified, when it occurred, and who entered the change. The print representation is stored in a VSAM file system. On Tuesday, Thursday, and Saturday evening starting at 10 PM, a batch program reads and outputs a series of reports to an electronic print file, which is downloaded to a print table on a server in the assessment office. The Tuesday’s print file has the activity for Monday and Tuesday, Thursday’s print file has activity for Wednesday and Thursday, and Saturday’s print file has activity for Friday and Saturday. The assessment office copies the electronic print file from a print table to an archive file having the system date as part of the file label. These electronic print files are stored in a files directory on the server. The assessment offices have the ability to print out selected reports or portions of those reports from this print file. Most offices print some of the reports. The files directory is routinely backed up to 4mm cassette tape each day per our disaster recovery procedures. The tapes are recycled each week giving us a one week backup. The tapes are kept in the assessment office, in a location separate from the server. This archive process began in 2000. No files have been purged from the server.
With the installation of new CD writers in the assessment offices, files for the current plus 2 prior tax years will be retained on the server. All others will be copied to a CD and then purged from the
server. The CD’s will be retained in the assessment office for at least 3 years and then destroyed. While it is not necessary to do so, the printed reports may be kept for 3 years.
COMPUTER ASSISTED MASS APPRAISAL (CAMA) DATABASE
CAMA is the real property valuation database that resides on a Novell server in each of the 24 local assessment offices. The application uses Visual FoxPro as the database. Property assessors and clerical staff enter information attributes into the database for each property in the State. Various levels of security are applied, giving administrative, data entry, or inquiry only rights depending on the job function of the employee. A CAMA manager in each jurisdiction has administrative rights to perform functions associated with database administration. Properties are valued in the system using the attributes and various rate tables. Once a property has been assessed, an extract produces a transaction record which is uploaded to the Annapolis Data Center using a FTP connection. This upload process can be done daily and as many times during the day as needed. The transactions are processed through a batch update program at the ADC on Tuesday, Thursday, and Saturday evenings starting at 10:00 p.m. The database is backed up daily to tape. A separate tape is used each day. The tapes are recycled weekly except for the Friday back up. Each assessment office sends the Friday or Monday tape to Real Property at the Headquarters (Preston Street) office. Real Property logs receipt of the tapes and gives them to OIT. OIT stores the tapes in a secure cabinet. The last tape received each month is retained and all others from that month are returned to the assessment office.
OIT retains back up tapes for 6 months. At the beginning of each fiscal year, the assessment office performs a full back up to CD. In some cases there are multiple CD’s. Two copies are made. One copy is sent to Real Property Headquarters Office. Real Property verifies receipt from all offices and then transfers them to OIT which stores them in secure cabinets. The assessment office permanently retains their copies and OIT retains their copies for five years then destroys them.
