Baltimore City Councilman Isaac “Yitzy” Schleifer voted against legislation that would increase the city’s Homestead Property Tax Cap from 4% to 5%.

Schleifer argued that raising the cap could expose thousands of homeowners to larger property tax increases in the coming years, particularly longtime residents and seniors who have lived in their homes for decades.

While he successfully pushed to reduce the proposal from an original 6% cap to 5%, Schleifer also introduced an amendment that would have automatically ended the higher cap after four years unless a future City Council voted to extend it. That amendment did not move forward.

The administration has argued that future property tax reductions planned over the next decade will offset the impact of the higher cap. Schleifer pushed back, noting that this year’s promised 2-cent property tax cut was removed from the budget despite hundreds of millions of dollars in additional revenue.

“We should be lowering property taxes, not increasing homeowners’ exposure to higher tax bills,” Schleifer said.