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Tax troubles are still looming over Frederick County's only charter school, even though it does not have to pay $18,000 in county property taxes this year.

The Monocacy Valley Montessori Charter School still owes $13,000 in property taxes to the City of Frederick, though charter school advocates are preparing to ask city officials for a waiver.

But even if the city agrees to waive the school's tax obligation this year, charter school officials fear that that the Monocacy Valley Montessori Charter School may face the same tax problems next year.

"The issue is not resolved," said Kim Standing, president of Monocacy Montessori Communities Inc., the group that runs the charter school.

Standing said the charter school needs a permanent solution to a tax problem that has been haunting the school since it was created as the first charter school in Maryland in 2002.

The problem is that while the charter school is part of the Frederick County Public Schools, it is not housed in a building owned by the school system. The group that runs the charter school leases a building at 217 Dill Ave., Frederick, and therefore is required to pay property taxes on the building as if it were a private entity.

That is a problem for most charter schools across the state because, with the exception of Baltimore City, no school system in Maryland provides a building for charter schools.

The tax obligation was included in a contract that the group signed when it leased the building in 2005, Standing said. At the time, the group needed a school site immediately, and the school founders did not feel that they had any other choice but to sign the contract.

"We really didn't have a choice," she said. "We needed to move some place to keep the school up and running."

The lease contract, which expires in 2015, states that the landlord will take care of state taxes, while the school would pay county and city property taxes.

Because of the way the contract was written, the school did not have to pay taxes in the first year of the lease. Charter school officials then only had to pay 25 percent of the taxes for the next three years, and the charter school was able to get grants and waivers from the county to cover that, Standing said.

However, charter school property taxes are becoming a burden this year, which is the first time the charter school has to cover 75 percent of its county and city property tax obligations, Standing said.

This year, the school had to pay nearly $31,000 in property taxes, which included about $13,000 in city and $18,000 in county taxes.

Earlier this month, Frederick County commissioners waived the school's $18,000 property tax requirement, but they also pressed the school system to help the charter school find a more permanent solution.

"This has been a difficult issue for the Montessori School and for us," Commissioner David P. Gray (R) told school board members at a joint meeting on Nov. 17.

Gray urged the school board to help with the charter school's tax problems, especially now that the school system is expected to get applications for two more charter schools. He and other county commissioners also expressed concern that the charter school does not seem to receive money from the school system to pay its taxes and may have difficulties paying that obligation in the future.

Commissioners and school board members considered different options that could help the school resolve the issue in the long-term.

But they could not find an appropriate solution.

The charter school cannot legally use the money it receives from the school system to buy its own building, according to schools Superintendent Linda Burgee.

The charter school received $10,031 in cash and in-kind services from the school system to educate each of its students this academic year, Burgee said. The school has 292 students.

With no long-term solution in sight, charter school advocates are now focused on addressing their immediate tax concerns first.

Charter school officials now plan to ask city officials to waive the taxes for the current year. They have no scheduled date, but they must have a solution before April, Standing said.

E-mail Margarita Raycheva at mraycheva@gazette.net.