Elrich property tax increase

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:The wildest part is Elrich (who has always been shall we say "unique" as a politician and in his communications), isnt shying away from it, at all.

99% of politicians in any state or county would at least know that a 10% property tax hike is going to be politically unpopular, if not personal political suicide. He's practically proud of it.

He got reelected again. I mean people know his deal, he has always been like this.

By like 30 votes and if he raises taxes I'll vote for anyone but him.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:The wildest part is Elrich (who has always been shall we say "unique" as a politician and in his communications), isnt shying away from it, at all.

99% of politicians in any state or county would at least know that a 10% property tax hike is going to be politically unpopular, if not personal political suicide. He's practically proud of it.

He got reelected again. I mean people know his deal, he has always been like this.

By like 30 votes and if he raises taxes I'll vote for anyone but him.

Not much of a threat, since he probably won't run again.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

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.

Wonder if he can really get away with this.

There is no loophole. He’s lying. The state law does not apply to our charter.

He proposed his own version of a charter amendment on property taxes in 2020, 8 years after this state law was passed. If the state law negates the current charter, it would have also negated the charter amendment that Elrich proposed. Never once did he mention this possibility. Never once did his chief administrative officer, who sponsored the state law and testified on Elrich’s proposed charter amendment, mention this possibility. So Elrich and Madaleno were either lying then or they’re lying now. Don’t let them get away with it. Tell your council members that we expect a unanimous vote to raise taxes.

Can you explain this is dummy terms to non-lawyers. What was Question A in 2020? What is this loophole people are referring to they is allowing this proposed tax hike?

Question A (which passed) abolished a complicated county charter property tax cap and instead requires property tax increases to have the unanimous support of the County Council.

Question B (which was put on the ballot by Robin Ficker, and which did not pass) would have banned property tax increases higher than the rate of inflation, no matter what.

So where's the loophole?

There is none. The state law only applies to limits like those in Question B, which this county’s voters have always rejected.

Argh, pasted in the wrong nested quotes section. Reposted:
This blog post discusses the "loophole"
https://montgomeryperspective.com/2023/03/20/the-hand-of-the-king/

The charter has never limited rate or revenue increases. They increased taxes under the old provision too. What Elrich is proposing isn’t a loophole. It’s just illegal.

I'd be more than happy to donate to a fund to raise money to fight this BS in court.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:The wildest part is Elrich (who has always been shall we say "unique" as a politician and in his communications), isnt shying away from it, at all.

99% of politicians in any state or county would at least know that a 10% property tax hike is going to be politically unpopular, if not personal political suicide. He's practically proud of it.

He got reelected again. I mean people know his deal, he has always been like this.

By like 30 votes and if he raises taxes I'll vote for anyone but him.

Not much of a threat, since he probably won't run again.

for any office

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:The wildest part is Elrich (who has always been shall we say "unique" as a politician and in his communications), isnt shying away from it, at all.

99% of politicians in any state or county would at least know that a 10% property tax hike is going to be politically unpopular, if not personal political suicide. He's practically proud of it.

He got reelected again. I mean people know his deal, he has always been like this.

By like 30 votes and if he raises taxes I'll vote for anyone but him.

Not much of a threat, since he probably won't run again.

I wouldn’t be so sure.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:From: https://www.mabe.org/wp-content/uploads/2019/12/Issue-Papers-2020-Session-local-government-only.pdf

Counties may exceed the charter limitations on local property taxes for the purpose of funding the approved budget of the local boards of education. If a local property tax rate is set
above the charter limit, the county governing body may not reduce funding provided to the local board of education from any other local source and must appropriate to the local board of education all of the revenues generated from any increase beyond the existing charter limit. This authority was adopted at the 2012 regular session to ensure that counties have the fiscal ability to meet new education Maintenance of Effort requirements.

Which I assume paraphrases Md. Education Code Ann. § 5-104(d)(1): Notwithstanding any provision of a county charter that places a limit on that county’s property tax rate or revenues and subject to paragraph (2) of this subsection, a county governing body may set a property tax rate that is higher than the rate authorized under the county’s charter or collect more property tax revenues than the revenues authorized under the county’s charter for the sole purpose of funding the approved budget of the county [school] board.

Rich Madaleno really screwed us over in 2012.

It seems like the county council will be complicit with Elrich's highway robbery. In 2020, they quickly sent out a statement shooting down Elrich's 3.18 cent increase proposal. Crickets this time. This time, Evan Glass even said, "We must balance the needs of today with those of tomorrow, which include supporting our schools, our teachers, our first responders, our healthcare professionals and other frontline workers" which sounds to me that he supports the increase.

One of Elrich's defenses for his budget proposal is that DC will pay their teachers $75,000/year. That's a strawman argument because MCPS does not compete with DCPS. MCPS competes with FCPS and HCPS and VA pays their teachers far less than MD. DC has a higher cost of living than suburban MD, so of course they need to pay more. And like other posters have mentioned, DC and Baltimore paying more per student have not yielded desired results. Everyone needs to call their councilmember and ask them to find an alternative to fund MCPS. Keep the other parts of the budget the same and allocate any organic increases in revenues to MCPS and public safety only.

I'm all for paying teachers well, but Elrich made 0 effort to reign in out-of-control spending at MCPS. They constantly waste money on useless programs and studies that never accomplish anything and create even more useless central office jobs. There's so much they could do to fund better pay without increasing the property tax rate. They even get more money because property values have increased which should more than makeup for inflation.

[Anonymous]

I think most people are for paying teachers well. MCPS does pay its teachers well, but I think many people would still be OK with a raise.

But the central office and admin growth has been unreal, and no one has ever called him (Elrich), or MCPS out about this.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I think most people are for paying teachers well. MCPS does pay its teachers well, but I think many people would still be OK with a raise.

But the central office and admin growth has been unreal, and no one has ever called him (Elrich), or MCPS out about this.

I hope there's a successful legal challenge to his attempt to use this loophole. You can't just keep raising taxes on residents. There's no effort to reign in rampant malfeasance in MCPS or the runaway growth of Central Office jobs. Also, he isn't doing more to grow the economic base but instead just throws up his hands and causes harm to the county's future with his irresponsible tax and spend policy. Wish we could recall him.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I think most people are for paying teachers well. MCPS does pay its teachers well, but I think many people would still be OK with a raise.

But the central office and admin growth has been unreal, and no one has ever called him (Elrich), or MCPS out about this.

I hope there's a successful legal challenge to his attempt to use this loophole. You can't just keep raising taxes on residents. There's no effort to reign in rampant malfeasance in MCPS or the runaway growth of Central Office jobs. Also, he isn't doing more to grow the economic base but instead just throws up his hands and causes harm to the county's future with his irresponsible tax and spend policy. Wish we could recall him.

Here is who has the authority to enact local property tax changes in Montgomery County: the County Council
Here is who does not have the authority to enact local property tax changes in Montgomery County: anybody else, including you, me, Karl Marx, my neighbor's golden retriever, and the County Executive

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I think most people are for paying teachers well. MCPS does pay its teachers well, but I think many people would still be OK with a raise.

But the central office and admin growth has been unreal, and no one has ever called him (Elrich), or MCPS out about this.

I hope there's a successful legal challenge to his attempt to use this loophole. You can't just keep raising taxes on residents. There's no effort to reign in rampant malfeasance in MCPS or the runaway growth of Central Office jobs. Also, he isn't doing more to grow the economic base but instead just throws up his hands and causes harm to the county's future with his irresponsible tax and spend policy. Wish we could recall him.

The frustrating part to me is this 10% tax hike is explicitly being stated as "because of inflation".

OK, thats true! It's a real thing, for sure. But to treat the county taxpayers as an endless ATM as if we are also not personally affected by said inflation in basically every cost- is just so insulting.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I think most people are for paying teachers well. MCPS does pay its teachers well, but I think many people would still be OK with a raise.

But the central office and admin growth has been unreal, and no one has ever called him (Elrich), or MCPS out about this.

I hope there's a successful legal challenge to his attempt to use this loophole. You can't just keep raising taxes on residents. There's no effort to reign in rampant malfeasance in MCPS or the runaway growth of Central Office jobs. Also, he isn't doing more to grow the economic base but instead just throws up his hands and causes harm to the county's future with his irresponsible tax and spend policy. Wish we could recall him.

The frustrating part to me is this 10% tax hike is explicitly being stated as "because of inflation".

OK, thats true! It's a real thing, for sure. But to treat the county taxpayers as an endless ATM as if we are also not personally affected by said inflation in basically every cost- is just so insulting.

Property values have increased because of this inflation, granting them comparable tax revenue increases so a hike is unnecessary. Further, the problem is that Elrich has no interest in addressing MCPS's irresponsible spending on foolish initiatives and their endless hiring of more Central Office administrators.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I think most people are for paying teachers well. MCPS does pay its teachers well, but I think many people would still be OK with a raise.

But the central office and admin growth has been unreal, and no one has ever called him (Elrich), or MCPS out about this.

I hope there's a successful legal challenge to his attempt to use this loophole. You can't just keep raising taxes on residents. There's no effort to reign in rampant malfeasance in MCPS or the runaway growth of Central Office jobs. Also, he isn't doing more to grow the economic base but instead just throws up his hands and causes harm to the county's future with his irresponsible tax and spend policy. Wish we could recall him.

The frustrating part to me is this 10% tax hike is explicitly being stated as "because of inflation".

OK, thats true! It's a real thing, for sure. But to treat the county taxpayers as an endless ATM as if we are also not personally affected by said inflation in basically every cost- is just so insulting.

Property values have increased because of this inflation, granting them comparable tax revenue increases so a hike is unnecessary. Further, the problem is that Elrich has no interest in addressing MCPS's irresponsible spending on foolish initiatives and their endless hiring of more Central Office administrators.

Assuming that this is the problem - Elrich has no authority or ability to do this.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I think most people are for paying teachers well. MCPS does pay its teachers well, but I think many people would still be OK with a raise.

But the central office and admin growth has been unreal, and no one has ever called him (Elrich), or MCPS out about this.

I hope there's a successful legal challenge to his attempt to use this loophole. You can't just keep raising taxes on residents. There's no effort to reign in rampant malfeasance in MCPS or the runaway growth of Central Office jobs. Also, he isn't doing more to grow the economic base but instead just throws up his hands and causes harm to the county's future with his irresponsible tax and spend policy. Wish we could recall him.

Here is who has the authority to enact local property tax changes in Montgomery County: the County Council
Here is who does not have the authority to enact local property tax changes in Montgomery County: anybody else, including you, me, Karl Marx, my neighbor's golden retriever, and the County Executive

I read this way too quickly as "Karl Marx's neighborhood golden retriever, the County Executive" as in Marc Elrich is Karl Marx's dog who fetches things in the neighborhood.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I think most people are for paying teachers well. MCPS does pay its teachers well, but I think many people would still be OK with a raise.

But the central office and admin growth has been unreal, and no one has ever called him (Elrich), or MCPS out about this.

I hope there's a successful legal challenge to his attempt to use this loophole. You can't just keep raising taxes on residents. There's no effort to reign in rampant malfeasance in MCPS or the runaway growth of Central Office jobs. Also, he isn't doing more to grow the economic base but instead just throws up his hands and causes harm to the county's future with his irresponsible tax and spend policy. Wish we could recall him.

Here is who has the authority to enact local property tax changes in Montgomery County: the County Council
Here is who does not have the authority to enact local property tax changes in Montgomery County: anybody else, including you, me, Karl Marx, my neighbor's golden retriever, and the County Executive

I read this way too quickly as "Karl Marx's neighborhood golden retriever, the County Executive" as in Marc Elrich is Karl Marx's dog who fetches things in the neighborhood.

I'm the PP whose neighbor has a golden retriever, and that made me giggle.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I think most people are for paying teachers well. MCPS does pay its teachers well, but I think many people would still be OK with a raise.

But the central office and admin growth has been unreal, and no one has ever called him (Elrich), or MCPS out about this.

I hope there's a successful legal challenge to his attempt to use this loophole. You can't just keep raising taxes on residents. There's no effort to reign in rampant malfeasance in MCPS or the runaway growth of Central Office jobs. Also, he isn't doing more to grow the economic base but instead just throws up his hands and causes harm to the county's future with his irresponsible tax and spend policy. Wish we could recall him.

The frustrating part to me is this 10% tax hike is explicitly being stated as "because of inflation".

OK, thats true! It's a real thing, for sure. But to treat the county taxpayers as an endless ATM as if we are also not personally affected by said inflation in basically every cost- is just so insulting.

Property values have increased because of this inflation, granting them comparable tax revenue increases so a hike is unnecessary. Further, the problem is that Elrich has no interest in addressing MCPS's irresponsible spending on foolish initiatives and their endless hiring of more Central Office administrators.

Assuming that this is the problem - Elrich has no authority or ability to do this.

He has some ability.

When MCPS puts in their annual budget request (always well beyond Maintenance of effort, and beyond what Elrich has already proposed) he could at least counter publicly that he believes the budget is extremely well funded and focuses on the students and staff. And that the insane growth of admin and central office concerns him- and his priorities will always be with the students, teachers and staff. I imagine that would play quite well actually.