By Tara Fischer

Staff Writer

(March 12, 2026) The Berlin Town Council passed a resolution this week supporting a bill that, if passed, would establish a state-level task force to study Maryland’s revenues and how they could be passed down to municipalities.

Berlin Mayor Zack Tyndall said the bill, House Bill 1142, Task Force to Modernize County and Municipal Revenue Structures, is a focus of the Maryland Municipal League. MML is a group that supports the interests of incorporated cities and towns.

“This is an MML priority bill to establish a task force to review revenues for the state and how those pass down and open up doors for revenue opportunities for municipalities,” Tyndall said. “MML has requested that municipalities adopt this resolution to show their support.”

He added that the Town of Berlin may also write endorsement letters for the proposed legislation.

Democratic Delegate Jheanelle Wilkins from Montgomery County sponsors the bill. The potential task force would evaluate other revenue options available to local governments, including sales tax.

The adopted resolution reads, “Municipal governments are facing unprecedented inflationary pressure on construction materials, fuel, and labor, alongside increasing state-mandated costs, making the need for modern and flexible revenue sources more urgent than ever … Maryland’s municipalities are a primary driver of economic activity and tourism in the State, yet the current tax structure fails to reinvest a fair share of the wealth generated within municipal borders back into the local infrastructure that supports that very growth …”

The document adds that Maryland is one of only six states that do not share tax revenue from the sale of goods or services with local governments “or allow those governments to collect it themselves.”

This has thus caused the Town of Berlin and others in the state to become over-reliant on property taxes.

The resolution notes that “the proposed Task Force would provide a data-driven, nonpartisan forum to study these inequities and recommend solutions that ensure municipal governments can remain fiscally resilient without overburdening local property owners.”

HB 1142 was introduced on Feb. 11 and is pending in the House Ways and Means Committee.

The Berlin Town Council unanimously agreed to support the resolution this week.

“We talk all the time about diversifying the revenue,” Councilmember Steve Green said. “If we can get a new line item, it seems like a no-brainer to support this legislation.”