BALTIMORE (Map, News) - A proposed tax break would benefit existing businesses seeking to better their image over new businesses along Route 140 after Carroll residents said the previous bill was unfair.

“Our concerns primarily revolve around how we had initially seen this as an opportunity for existing businesses to improve their appearance, and we thought the tax credit was biased toward new businesses,” said Alice Altstatt, a member of the Finksburg Planning and Citizens’ Council.

A percentage of business owners’ property taxes would be cut for several years based on the cost of improvement, according to the bill, which Carroll commissioners are expected to vote on today.

The original bill allowed for a 75 percent credit for up to five years if improvement costs were more than 25 percent of the property value.

But County Attorney Kimberly Millender said the county revised the legislation to create separate categories for new and existing businesses, with existing businesses qualifying for a greater discount.

“We certainly did take into account all the comments that were received,” Millender said. “But these are just what we’re going to recommend to the board [of county commissioners]; obviously the board will have the final decision.”

The Finksburg council, which represents residents in the unincorporated area near Baltimore County, strongly supports the tax credit and is not opposed to new businesses, Altstatt said, but it wanted clarification on some parts of the bill.

Route 140 is Carroll’s main artery, cutting the county in half from Finksburg to Taneytown. The roadside is dotted with dilapidated barns and rusty billboards.

“I don’t think it gives a very good first impression,” Altstatt said. “It’s nothing against the businesses that are there, it’s just the way that things have gotten put in. There hasn’t been a whole lot of consideration for cumulative development.”

She said she hoped the bill would bolster economic development along the busy road, helping to transform it from a place people drive through into a destination they drive to.

“It would be nice to have an attractive area where people would actually like to stop and shop.”

msilvestri@baltimoreexaminer.com