Elrich property tax increase

[Anonymous]

ModeratelyMoco wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

ModeratelyMoco wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Have the council members staked out positions on this yet?

If they are smart they avoid it entirely, since it doesnt need their vote.

In theory it would need full council approval unanimously but since it doesnt- why would they go on record for supporting a huge tax increase?

Sorry for asking but can you explain? Do they need to vote for it or not?

By law any increase in the property tax requires a unanimous vote by the council, to raise the charter limit.

The one exception is the state allows them to go around this to comply with maintenance of effort for schools funding. So, a bit of a gray area- but I dont think it needs their vote- and they are probably quite relieved about that.

Yea it’s pretty shady because tons of other things are increasing in the budget too but since the increase is just under the increase for MCPS alone, he is making the argument they only need a majority. So much for that charter amendment pushed through with promises of needing an anonymous vote

But the council still needs to vote on it, right? It's just that it's a majority vote. Elrich cannot do it on his say-so alone, so the council members cannot avoid the issue.

Yes this is true. I think personally they’ll have little trouble getting a majority. With needing unanimous there would be some hard decisions needing to be made to get everyone’s vote

and if a dime of this goes to something other than school maintenance is it void?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

ModeratelyMoco wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

ModeratelyMoco wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Have the council members staked out positions on this yet?

If they are smart they avoid it entirely, since it doesnt need their vote.

In theory it would need full council approval unanimously but since it doesnt- why would they go on record for supporting a huge tax increase?

Sorry for asking but can you explain? Do they need to vote for it or not?

By law any increase in the property tax requires a unanimous vote by the council, to raise the charter limit.

The one exception is the state allows them to go around this to comply with maintenance of effort for schools funding. So, a bit of a gray area- but I dont think it needs their vote- and they are probably quite relieved about that.

Yea it’s pretty shady because tons of other things are increasing in the budget too but since the increase is just under the increase for MCPS alone, he is making the argument they only need a majority. So much for that charter amendment pushed through with promises of needing an anonymous vote

They get the average citizen with "dont you care about schools!" and the apple ballot.

If the average citizen knew about the growth in admin and central office, they would lose their mind.

But the council still needs to vote on it, right? It's just that it's a majority vote. Elrich cannot do it on his say-so alone, so the council members cannot avoid the issue.

Yes this is true. I think personally they’ll have little trouble getting a majority. With needing unanimous there would be some hard decisions needing to be made to get everyone’s vote

There is also more political cover to just "approving Elrich's budget"
than all of them unanimously passing another big property tax increase like they did a decade ago, or so.

The fact that they won't trim the wasteful spending in MCPS and jump to this means they're way out of touch with their constituents.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

ModeratelyMoco wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

ModeratelyMoco wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Have the council members staked out positions on this yet?

If they are smart they avoid it entirely, since it doesnt need their vote.

In theory it would need full council approval unanimously but since it doesnt- why would they go on record for supporting a huge tax increase?

Sorry for asking but can you explain? Do they need to vote for it or not?

By law any increase in the property tax requires a unanimous vote by the council, to raise the charter limit.

The one exception is the state allows them to go around this to comply with maintenance of effort for schools funding. So, a bit of a gray area- but I dont think it needs their vote- and they are probably quite relieved about that.

Yea it’s pretty shady because tons of other things are increasing in the budget too but since the increase is just under the increase for MCPS alone, he is making the argument they only need a majority. So much for that charter amendment pushed through with promises of needing an anonymous vote

But the council still needs to vote on it, right? It's just that it's a majority vote. Elrich cannot do it on his say-so alone, so the council members cannot avoid the issue.

Yes this is true. I think personally they’ll have little trouble getting a majority. With needing unanimous there would be some hard decisions needing to be made to get everyone’s vote

There is also more political cover to just "approving Elrich's budget"
than all of them unanimously passing another big property tax increase like they did a decade ago, or so.

The fact that they won't trim the wasteful spending in MCPS and jump to this means they're way out of touch with their constituents.

They get the average citizen with "dont you care about schools!" and the apple ballot.

If the average citizen knew about the growth in admin and central office, they would lose their mind.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

ModeratelyMoco wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

ModeratelyMoco wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Have the council members staked out positions on this yet?

If they are smart they avoid it entirely, since it doesnt need their vote.

In theory it would need full council approval unanimously but since it doesnt- why would they go on record for supporting a huge tax increase?

Sorry for asking but can you explain? Do they need to vote for it or not?

By law any increase in the property tax requires a unanimous vote by the council, to raise the charter limit.

The one exception is the state allows them to go around this to comply with maintenance of effort for schools funding. So, a bit of a gray area- but I dont think it needs their vote- and they are probably quite relieved about that.

Yea it’s pretty shady because tons of other things are increasing in the budget too but since the increase is just under the increase for MCPS alone, he is making the argument they only need a majority. So much for that charter amendment pushed through with promises of needing an anonymous vote

But the council still needs to vote on it, right? It's just that it's a majority vote. Elrich cannot do it on his say-so alone, so the council members cannot avoid the issue.

Yes this is true. I think personally they’ll have little trouble getting a majority. With needing unanimous there would be some hard decisions needing to be made to get everyone’s vote

There is also more political cover to just "approving Elrich's budget"
than all of them unanimously passing another big property tax increase like they did a decade ago, or so.

The fact that they won't trim the wasteful spending in MCPS and jump to this means they're way out of touch with their constituents.

They get the average citizen with "dont you care about schools!" and the apple ballot.

If the average citizen knew about the growth in admin and central office, they would lose their mind.

Anyone council member that supports this needs to be kicked to the curb.

[Anonymous]

Any way Joe citizen can file a complaint/petition against this? He's going through a big loophole, circumventing the will of the voters' 2020 Election Question A, and disingenuous about it as there are bunch of other things increasing as well. There was no thought given to reallocating other funds to schools and public safety and keeping overall budget the same. The public hearings feel like they are checking off a box, they are so condescending.

[Anonymous]

Everyone needs to calm down.

1- it won't happen. The number will be reduced to something more reasonable (the last time the council raised the property taxes for the schools, every incumbent was ousted in the next election - the council members will remember this)

2 - instead of screaming at the council not to do this everyone should be screaming at them for some oversight into MCPS. Only govt department/agency not to have an Inspector General, and it takes up more than half of the county budget! Programs that don't work - cut them! Someone needs to take a pen and rearrange their budget, putting more teachers in classrooms with smaller class sizes

3 - our schools are in huge trouble (special ed, teacher shortages, sub shortages, crumbling facilities), and something big needs to be done. I'd like to see a huge shake up at central office, wipe out most of the existing staff, and start over with a complete reorganization (and fewer central office staff, more bodies in classrooms and smaller class sizes).

And if we don't do this, or something (anyone have any good ideas, and no, not charters which have no oversight and no accountability and use public dollars for private schools, sometimes private religious schools), the massive behavior problems teachers are facing this year will get worse, and our public education system will get worse

[Anonymous]

MCPS has plenty of money if they'd cut out all the wasteful spending.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Everyone needs to calm down.

1- it won't happen. The number will be reduced to something more reasonable (the last time the council raised the property taxes for the schools, every incumbent was ousted in the next election - the council members will remember this)

2 - instead of screaming at the council not to do this everyone should be screaming at them for some oversight into MCPS. Only govt department/agency not to have an Inspector General, and it takes up more than half of the county budget! Programs that don't work - cut them! Someone needs to take a pen and rearrange their budget, putting more teachers in classrooms with smaller class sizes

3 - our schools are in huge trouble (special ed, teacher shortages, sub shortages, crumbling facilities), and something big needs to be done. I'd like to see a huge shake up at central office, wipe out most of the existing staff, and start over with a complete reorganization (and fewer central office staff, more bodies in classrooms and smaller class sizes).

And if we don't do this, or something (anyone have any good ideas, and no, not charters which have no oversight and no accountability and use public dollars for private schools, sometimes private religious schools), the massive behavior problems teachers are facing this year will get worse, and our public education system will get worse

Throwing more money at MCPS will not help. Having a huge leadership change, getting rid of the excess employees in central office, stop the wasteful spending, especially like funding non-profits, etc would help. They need accountability.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Everyone needs to calm down.

1- it won't happen. The number will be reduced to something more reasonable (the last time the council raised the property taxes for the schools, every incumbent was ousted in the next election - the council members will remember this)

2 - instead of screaming at the council not to do this everyone should be screaming at them for some oversight into MCPS. Only govt department/agency not to have an Inspector General, and it takes up more than half of the county budget! Programs that don't work - cut them! Someone needs to take a pen and rearrange their budget, putting more teachers in classrooms with smaller class sizes

3 - our schools are in huge trouble (special ed, teacher shortages, sub shortages, crumbling facilities), and something big needs to be done. I'd like to see a huge shake up at central office, wipe out most of the existing staff, and start over with a complete reorganization (and fewer central office staff, more bodies in classrooms and smaller class sizes).

And if we don't do this, or something (anyone have any good ideas, and no, not charters which have no oversight and no accountability and use public dollars for private schools, sometimes private religious schools), the massive behavior problems teachers are facing this year will get worse, and our public education system will get worse

Throwing more money at MCPS will not help. Having a huge leadership change, getting rid of the excess employees in central office, stop the wasteful spending, especially like funding non-profits, etc would help. They need accountability.

+1000

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Any way Joe citizen can file a complaint/petition against this? He's going through a big loophole, circumventing the will of the voters' 2020 Election Question A, and disingenuous about it as there are bunch of other things increasing as well. There was no thought given to reallocating other funds to schools and public safety and keeping overall budget the same. The public hearings feel like they are checking off a box, they are so condescending.

This sounds illegal.

[Anonymous]

Only govt department/agency not to have an Inspector General, and it takes up more than half of the county budget!

What would need to happen to create an Inspector General for MCPS? Majority of the council would need to approve it? How could a council member be opposed to an Inspector General?

I plan to call my council members’ offices tomorrow about this.

[Anonymous]

ModeratelyMoco wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

ModeratelyMoco wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Have the council members staked out positions on this yet?

If they are smart they avoid it entirely, since it doesnt need their vote.

In theory it would need full council approval unanimously but since it doesnt- why would they go on record for supporting a huge tax increase?

Sorry for asking but can you explain? Do they need to vote for it or not?

By law any increase in the property tax requires a unanimous vote by the council, to raise the charter limit.

The one exception is the state allows them to go around this to comply with maintenance of effort for schools funding. So, a bit of a gray area- but I dont think it needs their vote- and they are probably quite relieved about that.

Yea it’s pretty shady because tons of other things are increasing in the budget too but since the increase is just under the increase for MCPS alone, he is making the argument they only need a majority. So much for that charter amendment pushed through with promises of needing an anonymous vote

But the council still needs to vote on it, right? It's just that it's a majority vote. Elrich cannot do it on his say-so alone, so the council members cannot avoid the issue.

Yes this is true. I think personally they’ll have little trouble getting a majority. With needing unanimous there would be some hard decisions needing to be made to get everyone’s vote

They need a unanimous vote. Elrich is wrong when he says they don’t. No one should ever assume anything Elrich says is right, and no one should let this lie slip through.

[Anonymous]

Doesn't MCPS already get like 60% of all tax revenue? Time and time again it has been shown that dumping more money into schools doesn't provide better outcomes. Japanese, Chinese Singaporean, and Swedish students run laps around American students, and they spend far less mony per pupil. Baltimore spends near the most money per pupil and they have like 3% math proficiency rate in many schools.Taxing people out of their homes and using schools and education as an excuse is a terrible idea. Teach better and force parents to parent better. No amount of money can make people be better parents. There are just a lot of lowlifes in MoCo that drag down the whole system, so I don't know why people think money will fix it.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Everyone needs to calm down.

1- it won't happen. The number will be reduced to something more reasonable (the last time the council raised the property taxes for the schools, every incumbent was ousted in the next election - the council members will remember this)

2 - instead of screaming at the council not to do this everyone should be screaming at them for some oversight into MCPS. Only govt department/agency not to have an Inspector General, and it takes up more than half of the county budget! Programs that don't work - cut them! Someone needs to take a pen and rearrange their budget, putting more teachers in classrooms with smaller class sizes

3 - our schools are in huge trouble (special ed, teacher shortages, sub shortages, crumbling facilities), and something big needs to be done. I'd like to see a huge shake up at central office, wipe out most of the existing staff, and start over with a complete reorganization (and fewer central office staff, more bodies in classrooms and smaller class sizes).

And if we don't do this, or something (anyone have any good ideas, and no, not charters which have no oversight and no accountability and use public dollars for private schools, sometimes private religious schools), the massive behavior problems teachers are facing this year will get worse, and our public education system will get worse

When did that happen with all the incumbents being voted out?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Everyone needs to calm down.

1- it won't happen. The number will be reduced to something more reasonable (the last time the council raised the property taxes for the schools, every incumbent was ousted in the next election - the council members will remember this)

2 - instead of screaming at the council not to do this everyone should be screaming at them for some oversight into MCPS. Only govt department/agency not to have an Inspector General, and it takes up more than half of the county budget! Programs that don't work - cut them! Someone needs to take a pen and rearrange their budget, putting more teachers in classrooms with smaller class sizes

3 - our schools are in huge trouble (special ed, teacher shortages, sub shortages, crumbling facilities), and something big needs to be done. I'd like to see a huge shake up at central office, wipe out most of the existing staff, and start over with a complete reorganization (and fewer central office staff, more bodies in classrooms and smaller class sizes).

And if we don't do this, or something (anyone have any good ideas, and no, not charters which have no oversight and no accountability and use public dollars for private schools, sometimes private religious schools), the massive behavior problems teachers are facing this year will get worse, and our public education system will get worse

When did that happen with all the incumbents being voted out?

I believe it was 2018, but need someone with more time to double check