Bowie Council Approves Tax Increase to Close Budget Gap

Bowie homeowners and small businesses are facing a steeper city tax bill: the real property rate would rise from $0.40 to $0.60 per $100 of assessed value, a 50% increase that adds about $800 a year on a $400,000 home and about $1,000 on a $500,000 commercial property. Even before that city hike, Bowie residents were already paying a combined state, county and city property tax rate of $1.7080 per $100 of assessed value in fiscal 2026, up from $1.7020 the year before.

The City Council approved the increase as officials moved to close a budget gap that had been building for months. The city’s finance department says the city manager must submit a proposed budget to council between April 10 and April 15 each year, and Bowie held a public hearing on the tax proposal at 7 p.m. on May 4 at Bowie City Hall, 15901 Fred Robinson Way. Written testimony for that hearing was due by 6 p.m. the same day.

The vote came as Michael Estève, who won 50% of the vote in Bowie’s April special mayoral election, was taking over the city’s top job after Tim Adams was appointed to the Prince George’s County Council. Estève told voters during the campaign that “all the easy choices” were behind the city, and said Bowie residents were pressing for public safety, overdevelopment, business quality, litter and aging infrastructure.

That pressure has collided with the city’s core obligations. As an incorporated city in Prince George’s County, Bowie is responsible for its own roads, sidewalks, trash pickup, recycling and yard waste collection, while also paying for public safety. City officials had already warned in 2025 that the city was approaching a “tipping point” in 2026 if current trends continued.

Police and public works costs have been central to the strain. Bowie Police Chief Dwyane Preston said in June 2025 that the department’s biggest challenge was property crime, that the goal was a 10% reduction in crime and that the force was expanding to 70 officers by July 2025. Estève said Bowie could easily have 122 law enforcement officers but had about 66, and he pointed to inflation that has pushed the price of a trash truck from $120,000 a few years ago to almost $280,000.

Prince George’s County has been under budget pressure too, adopting a balanced $5.8 billion fiscal 2026 plan last May after state and federal funding reductions. In Bowie, the tax increase now puts a higher price tag on keeping police, sanitation and infrastructure services in place, after 16 years without a city rate change.