Issues

The leadership of the County Executive and County Council has propagated the same failed policies and played musical chairs with the same people for 12 years with no real progress. County residents are seeing the worsening violent crime, decline in school performance, increasing debt to finance the county budget, and moribund business and job growth.  Most recently, Marc Elrich’s budget proposes a double-digit tax increase from $0.98 per $100 of assessed value to $1.08 per $100 of assessed value. Many of us remember the County’s 9% tax hike which was supposed to provide for increased funding for the school system, but didn’t. 

A cursory review of Elrich’s proposed FY24 budget clearly shows several line items getting double-digit increases other than the school system. Elrich’s new budget adds over 170 positions in the County on top of the bloated growth of his first term. So much for concentrating on the schools.

County spending must be rational, reasonable and truly needed. We must review current programs and spending before adding new ones.

The current County Operating Budget is laced with unnecessary spending. The Capital Budget is biased toward areas in which the County Executive and County Council live, and unnecessary projects.  The County Executive and County Council continue to spend more than our neighbors on operations, thereby placing continuous upward pressure on taxation burdens.

Most recently, Marc Elrich’s budget proposes a double-digit tax increase from $0.98 per $100 of assessed value to $1.08 per $100 of assessed value. Many of us remember the County’s 9% tax hike which was supposed to provide for increased funding for the school system, but didn’t.

A cursory review of Elrich’s proposed FY24 budget clearly shows several line items getting double-digit increases other than the school system. Elrich’s new budget adds over 170 positions in the County on top of the bloated growth of his first term. So much for concentrating on the schools.

Before raising taxes, Montgomery County should look for ways to cut spending.  We have uncovered prior spending excesses including $160 million to undisclosed vendors. There are almost 2,000 unnamed vendors in the prior County budget. The total disbursed to those vendors total over $168 million.” Almost 300 vendors received over $50,000; 40 of them received over $1 million in disbursements; and one vendor, identified only as 1803092593, received a single disbursement of over $1 million.     https://youtu.be/5yJqUksdxCM  

Marc Elrich has admitted that his tax structure does not work as well as northern Virginia’s, noting during debates that, “Virginia can bond against their revenue flow.” Maybe a rework of the tax structure is in order before raising property taxes on homeowners.  https://youtu.be/7Vhbb5N8Lpg 

The job of the public schools is to prepare students for tomorrow’s reality

Montgomery County Public Schools have devolved from being one of the top public school systems in the nation, to not even being top in Maryland. This is not acceptable.

Our County has become unsafe. The current administration cut police on the street, disbanded the auto theft unit, and removed School Resource Officers (SROs) from schools. The County Council’s failure to support our first responders has demoralized their ranks and made recruitment difficult.

“…the true measure of any society can be found in how it treats its most vulnerable members” --Mahatma Gandhi

There are residents in the County that are in unfortunate positions. We all know that to be true. There are Health and Human Services programs in the County that are essential including Child Protective Services, 24 Hour Crisis Center, Emergency Eviction Prevention, Public Assistance Programs, and Sexual Assault Programs.

By Authority Reardon Sullivan for MoCo – Victoria Birkett, Treasurer

Northern VA and Prince Georges’ County and Washington DC beat Montgomery County on Job and Economic Growth

Our local economy has stagnated and fallen behind Northern Virginia, Prince George's County and even Washington, DC. Our residents and business owners feel over-mandated, controlled, and subordinate to local leaders who are tone deaf to the real economic issues facing the County.