Frederick v. Balt. City Bd. of Elections

Summary

The Supreme Court of Maryland affirmed the exclusion of a voter-initiated Baltimore City property-tax amendment from the ballot. It held that the statute requiring the Mayor and City Council to set the annual property-tax rate must be read together with the Baltimore City Charter provision barring voter-initiated legislation concerning property taxation. Because the amendment would have required progressively decreasing tax rates, it impermissibly allowed voters to set the rate. A separate concurrence was presented in the supplied text, but it is excluded here pursuant to the instruction that the case has no separate opinions on record.