The "red-headed Eskimo" is legendary in Annapolis. Its twin cousin was sighted today in the Senate Budget and Taxation Committee.

Sen. Lisa A. Gladden, a Baltimore city Democrat, asked the committee to bless a bill she had introduced that would exempt "certain homeowners" in the Hillsdale Heights neighborhood from the filling deadline to get a property tax credit for newly constructed dwellings.

Now, a red-headed Eskimo is a bill that appears to be drawn broadly, but upon closer examination applies only to a single special interest or even one individual. Red-headed Eskimos are supposedly rare, but such bills turn up occasionally in the blizzard of legislation that's produced every year in the State House.

Gladden's bill, it turns out, would ride to the rescue of two homeowners - making it a red-headed Eskimo twin? Seems that the two were unaware that the new homes they built in the HIllsdale Heights golf course community could qualify for the five-year tax credit.

Charlene Dukes, one of the two, told the committee that the contractor building her home went bankrupt, so she had to hire someone else to finish it. After she moved in, she learned from a neighbor about the opportunity to shave her hefty city property tax, but the 90-day deadline to apply had already passed.

Baltimore city officials "strongly opposed" the bill, arguing that it would open the floodgates for dozens of others who've also missed the deadline to demand another chance to apply for tax credits they missed out on.

The city has given out nearly $5 million in tax credits to buyers of newly constructed buildings, said Helene Grady, deputy finance director. The break shaves a property tax bill in half the first year, but the benefit phases out over five years. Grady pointed out that the state law authorizing such tax credits leaves it up to each locality how to set them up, and the city's law allows for no exceptions to its application deadline.

But Vera Hall, a former City Council member and former president of the neighborhood association, told lawmakers that the two deserve special consideration because their homes were caught in litigation over completion of the neighborhood. That may have prevented them from learning about the tax credits in time to apply for them, since such credits are normally used by developers and real estate agents to help sell new homes in the city.

Senators on the committee seemed sympathetic about the homeowners' plight but skittish about passing such a narrowly drawn bill. Sen. Nathaniel McFadden, a member of the committee and chairman of the city's legislative delegation, joined Gladden in telling city officials to work something out with the Eskimo pair - or risk bad publicity and more legislation. Demaune Millard, the city's lobbyist, said they'd take a look at the situation.

"Red-headed Eskimos have rights, too," Hall said after the hearing.