Elrich proposes 3.5% property tax rate increase to fund MCPS budget

Montgomery County Executive Marc Elrich announced Friday he is proposing a 3.5% property tax rate increase in order to fully fund Montgomery County Public Schools’ (MCPS) $3.65 billion budget request for the upcoming fiscal year.

The proposed property tax increase is part of Elrich’s recommended $7.6 billion county operating budget plan for fiscal year 2026, which he released during a briefing Friday morning in Rockville. The spending plan represents an increase of 7.4% from the county’s current $7.1 billion operating budget. The budget proposal now heads to the County Council for review and approval.

Elrich defended his proposed tax increase, noting “the most valuable asset this county has is its schools.”..

Elrich proposes 3.5% property tax rate increase to fund MCPS budget - Bethesda Magazine

Montgomery County council looks to reduce MCPS funding to lower 10% tax hike

Lawmakers in Montgomery County are trying to trim back a controversial budget increase by Montgomery County Public Schools that would trigger a 10% property tax hike. 

After public reaction and public forums, the Montgomery County Council’s education committee is recommending reducing MCPS’ fund balance by $22.3 million, which would slightly lower the proposed tax hike.  Councilmember Will Jawando – who just announced a run for U.S. Senate – is the committee chair. He told FOX 5 that MCPS should tap into its unused funds. 

"We voted 3-0 to recommend to reduce by $22.3 million which is equivalent to 1% of the tax increase because of the fund balance. The school system's been carrying a pretty large fund balance of $25 to $35 million," said Jawando...

Montgomery County council looks to reduce MCPS funding to lower 10% tax hike (fox5dc.com)

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

Public Hearing Today on Increasing Property Taxes in Montgomery County

Public Hearing Today at 1:30 PM at Montgomery County Council

More information at this link:

http://montgomerycountymd.granicus.com/MetaViewer.php?view_id=149&event_id=4550&meta_id=107023

Current yield rate:  .723 per $100 of assessed value.  (this does not include the State tax and all the other fees)

State recommend for coming year: .7004 (because assessments up)

County Exec Recommend: .7754

Council Staff Recommend: .7754

This is a 3.2% increase in the rate and a 10.7% increase in the Constant Yield Tax Rate.  This would require 9 votes on the Council because the 10.7 % increase in the CYTR is above the rate of inflation (by a lot).  Current inflation rate is between .8% and 1.2%

O'Neill Tells Parents to Demand Raise in Taxes

At last night's Board of Education Operating Budget hearing, board member Patricia O'Neill ended the evening by telling parents that they should tell the Montgomery County Council to raise their taxes.

Remembrance of Things Past

Laura Berthiaume and Phil Kauffman as newly elected Board of Education members -

From December 4, 2008 meeting minutes


Laura Berthiaume:

...To the Parents Coalition as a whole, I am sure I will catch some grief from you, maybe justified, maybe not. That’s OK, I can take it. I just want to let you know that ears do prick up when the watch dog barks. So here’s to you. Bark away…

Phil Kauffman

…We must also address the taxpayers in our county. We are facing a fiscal situation unparalleled in MCPS history. Now, more than ever, our citizens need to be assured, with greater certainty, that the dollars provided to MCPS are effectively and efficiently spent. If we expect the public, especially those without children in our schools, to continue to support public education, we must make clear what we are doing and why, for whom, at what cost, and with what results. People want to know and have a right to know how well their tax dollars are spent. If we do not address that issue more effectively, citizens will continue to say that the school system does not have interest in accountability, which is truly ironic, as MCPS is much more accountable for results than other government agencies.

Even as MCPS prides itself on continuous improvement, I hope that the Board of Education will consider new approaches to improve its oversight responsibilities. We need to provide improved access to community members if we are to learn about what is working and what needs improvement in our schools. We need to seek out a wider range of views when we evaluate programs and policies. While many school systems justifiably look to Montgomery County as a leader, we do not have all the answers. We can and we should look elsewhere to learn from other systems’ successful practices…

57% of County Budget Not Enough for MCPS - Property Tax Hikes in Legislation

Senator Madaleno is after your money - for the children, of course. "Kensington senator wants to allow property tax hikes to help schools" was the original title of this article in the March 2, 2011 Gaithersburg edition of the Gazette.

Apparently, 57% of the county budget isn't sufficient for MCPS. Furloughs for county workers - but not MCPS employees - isn't sufficient. Therefore, in these dire economic times, the taxpayer is again asked to pony up.

On top of that, it appears the voters of Montgomery County don't know what they're doing when they go to the polls. Sen. Madaleno is referring to the Ficker Amendment, passed in 2008, that requires all nine members of the County Council to approve a budget that exceeds the county's charter limit on property tax collections.

Sen. Madaleno explains:

Madaleno said Monday that he does not think voters knew what they were voting for in 2008.

"I don't know if they could have foreseen what was going to transpire in the next two years," he said, referring to widespread cuts at all levels of government. "If we did polls now to get the public feeling (on the issue), maybe that wouldn't pass today."

Of course the MCPS is in agreement with this legislation. Based on internal expert analysis, the BoE will consequently publicly support this legislation during the March 8 meeting.

Sen. Madaleno's recent money-raising legislation that sought to increase MCPS coffers by charging children to ride the school bus was withdrawn in December 2010.

Hopefully this legislation will be withdrawn, too. Unfortunately time and resources are wasted that could be better spent on finding real solutions.


SB 316 Property Tax – Charter Counties – Education Funding

Authorizing the county council of a charter county to set a property tax rate higher or to collect more property tax revenues than authorized under the county charter under specified circumstances for the sole purpose of funding education; requiring a charter county to appropriate to the local board of education specified revenues and prohibiting a charter county from reducing specified funding to the local board of education under specified circumstances; etc.

-Agnes Jones-Trower