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be retained until superseded.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, 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.
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