Officials in Maryland's Montgomery County gave unionized workers — and themselves — big raises. Now they can't afford them.

Government-workforce politics have gotten very interesting in Maryland's Montgomery County, which includes a number of affluent Washington, D.C., suburbs. Unions are unhappy because their negotiated pay raises were unilaterally trimmed by the county council and because one council member has proposed changing the county's collective-bargaining laws in ways that don't sit well with labor. Meanwhile, homeowners are unhappy because of the biggest property-tax hike in seven years.
When you sort it all out, one-party government might just be a big part of the problem.
As chronicled in the Washington Post, the $5.3 billion budget the council approved in May included a nearly 9 percent property-tax hike that adds $326 annually to the average residential tax bill. The budget also increased a tax on recording real estate transactions that raises the cost of buying or selling a $500,000 house by $455....

http://www.governing.com/blogs/bfc/col-montgomery-county-maryland-self-inflicted-compensation-crisis.html