Elrich property tax increase

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

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Anonymous wrote:

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Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Our taxes are some of the lowest in the world; we need more like a 20% bump

That's not something Montgomery County alone can fix. That needs a federal solution to make everyone pay more so no jurisdiction can take advantage and get an unfair advantage. Higher state/county tax just makes one county less desirable to live in compared to other states/counties with lower taxes. You don't want to create an environment where jurisdictions can cheat, e.g. Ireland on the world scale with a super low corporate tax rate.

By the way, perfect timing, if you want to pay more you can overpay your Form 502 tax bill to Maryland or Montgomery County, I'm sure they won't complain if you overpay your taxes. That's your prerogative, don't drag other people down with you.

Increasing taxes would be counterproductive for MoCo, because MoCo will not see the benefit of those increased taxes. Those who pay the taxes (and cost the MoCo the least) are moving elsewhere, whether Frederick, NoVa, or elsewhere. Any budget projections based on increased taxes are a joke.

and any chance of attracting business is also less likely since nobody wants to live in a place with all these costs and 0 benefits

don't just post on an online forum, call or email your councilmembers if you live in moco

https://www.montgomerycountymd.gov/COUNCIL/members/index.html

Is there a way to just recall Elrich?

Nope because he WON the election. Deal with it. Many of us MoCo residents are perfectly happy with Elrich.

I don’t hate him but I wish he would pass the torch. He has been in MoCo politics for as long as I’ve been old enough to vote. Somehow we just can’t seem to get rid of him. Even though he’s had the minority opinion on a lot of things, he’s always somehow there. Isn’t he getting up there in age too? Maybe he’ll retire?

I voted for him twice, but with his tax increases that lack of accountability for MCPS spending is unacceptable. He needs to go.

He can't do anything about the MCPS budget. The County Council decides how much to appropriate, the Board of Education decides what to spend it on.

They don’t have to find it. They could decrease it or increase it.

No, they can't decrease it. They can not increase it. Do you think there's support among Montgomery County voters for less funding for MCPS? Who do you hang out with?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Our taxes are some of the lowest in the world; we need more like a 20% bump

That's not something Montgomery County alone can fix. That needs a federal solution to make everyone pay more so no jurisdiction can take advantage and get an unfair advantage. Higher state/county tax just makes one county less desirable to live in compared to other states/counties with lower taxes. You don't want to create an environment where jurisdictions can cheat, e.g. Ireland on the world scale with a super low corporate tax rate.

By the way, perfect timing, if you want to pay more you can overpay your Form 502 tax bill to Maryland or Montgomery County, I'm sure they won't complain if you overpay your taxes. That's your prerogative, don't drag other people down with you.

Increasing taxes would be counterproductive for MoCo, because MoCo will not see the benefit of those increased taxes. Those who pay the taxes (and cost the MoCo the least) are moving elsewhere, whether Frederick, NoVa, or elsewhere. Any budget projections based on increased taxes are a joke.

and any chance of attracting business is also less likely since nobody wants to live in a place with all these costs and 0 benefits

don't just post on an online forum, call or email your councilmembers if you live in moco

https://www.montgomerycountymd.gov/COUNCIL/members/index.html

Is there a way to just recall Elrich?

Nope because he WON the election. Deal with it. Many of us MoCo residents are perfectly happy with Elrich.

I don’t hate him but I wish he would pass the torch. He has been in MoCo politics for as long as I’ve been old enough to vote. Somehow we just can’t seem to get rid of him. Even though he’s had the minority opinion on a lot of things, he’s always somehow there. Isn’t he getting up there in age too? Maybe he’ll retire?

I voted for him twice, but with his tax increases that lack of accountability for MCPS spending is unacceptable. He needs to go.

He can't do anything about the MCPS budget. The County Council decides how much to appropriate, the Board of Education decides what to spend it on.

They don’t have to find it. They could decrease it or increase it.

No, they can't decrease it. They can not increase it. Do you think there's support among Montgomery County voters for less funding for MCPS? Who do you hang out with?

You are correct that they cannot decrease it because of state law/maintenance of effort. But MCPS is asking for above the maintenance of effort. It's not a binary decision. The Board can find cost savings within MCPS (size of the central office for starters?) and still have enough funding for adequate instruction. Or they can fund the MCPS request and find savings elsewhere in the budget. There is a lot of special interest pork in the budget that got added because of federal pandemic money and now that money has gone away. Elrich and council just want to increase taxes because it's the easy thing to do versus the hard reality of being responsible with other people's money. And there is a vocal part of the population that enables this behavior. MCPS has done more with less in the past, the county budget has done more with less in the past, they don't even want to consider any efficiencies, Elrich and council act like a tax increase is a foregone conclusion without even considering the repeated multi-year concerns from the county council staff reports about the sustainability of such a plan.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Our taxes are some of the lowest in the world; we need more like a 20% bump

That's not something Montgomery County alone can fix. That needs a federal solution to make everyone pay more so no jurisdiction can take advantage and get an unfair advantage. Higher state/county tax just makes one county less desirable to live in compared to other states/counties with lower taxes. You don't want to create an environment where jurisdictions can cheat, e.g. Ireland on the world scale with a super low corporate tax rate.

By the way, perfect timing, if you want to pay more you can overpay your Form 502 tax bill to Maryland or Montgomery County, I'm sure they won't complain if you overpay your taxes. That's your prerogative, don't drag other people down with you.

Increasing taxes would be counterproductive for MoCo, because MoCo will not see the benefit of those increased taxes. Those who pay the taxes (and cost the MoCo the least) are moving elsewhere, whether Frederick, NoVa, or elsewhere. Any budget projections based on increased taxes are a joke.

and any chance of attracting business is also less likely since nobody wants to live in a place with all these costs and 0 benefits

don't just post on an online forum, call or email your councilmembers if you live in moco

https://www.montgomerycountymd.gov/COUNCIL/members/index.html

Is there a way to just recall Elrich?

Nope because he WON the election. Deal with it. Many of us MoCo residents are perfectly happy with Elrich.

I don’t hate him but I wish he would pass the torch. He has been in MoCo politics for as long as I’ve been old enough to vote. Somehow we just can’t seem to get rid of him. Even though he’s had the minority opinion on a lot of things, he’s always somehow there. Isn’t he getting up there in age too? Maybe he’ll retire?

I voted for him twice, but with his tax increases that lack of accountability for MCPS spending is unacceptable. He needs to go.

He can't do anything about the MCPS budget. The County Council decides how much to appropriate, the Board of Education decides what to spend it on.

They don’t have to find it. They could decrease it or increase it.

No, they can't decrease it. They can not increase it. Do you think there's support among Montgomery County voters for less funding for MCPS? Who do you hang out with?

You are correct that they cannot decrease it because of state law/maintenance of effort. But MCPS is asking for above the maintenance of effort. It's not a binary decision. The Board can find cost savings within MCPS (size of the central office for starters?) and still have enough funding for adequate instruction. Or they can fund the MCPS request and find savings elsewhere in the budget. There is a lot of special interest pork in the budget that got added because of federal pandemic money and now that money has gone away. Elrich and council just want to increase taxes because it's the easy thing to do versus the hard reality of being responsible with other people's money. And there is a vocal part of the population that enables this behavior. MCPS has done more with less in the past, the county budget has done more with less in the past, they don't even want to consider any efficiencies, Elrich and council act like a tax increase is a foregone conclusion without even considering the repeated multi-year concerns from the county council staff reports about the sustainability of such a plan.

Again, do you think there's support among Montgomery County voters for less funding for MCPS?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Our taxes are some of the lowest in the world; we need more like a 20% bump

That's not something Montgomery County alone can fix. That needs a federal solution to make everyone pay more so no jurisdiction can take advantage and get an unfair advantage. Higher state/county tax just makes one county less desirable to live in compared to other states/counties with lower taxes. You don't want to create an environment where jurisdictions can cheat, e.g. Ireland on the world scale with a super low corporate tax rate.

By the way, perfect timing, if you want to pay more you can overpay your Form 502 tax bill to Maryland or Montgomery County, I'm sure they won't complain if you overpay your taxes. That's your prerogative, don't drag other people down with you.

Increasing taxes would be counterproductive for MoCo, because MoCo will not see the benefit of those increased taxes. Those who pay the taxes (and cost the MoCo the least) are moving elsewhere, whether Frederick, NoVa, or elsewhere. Any budget projections based on increased taxes are a joke.

and any chance of attracting business is also less likely since nobody wants to live in a place with all these costs and 0 benefits

don't just post on an online forum, call or email your councilmembers if you live in moco

https://www.montgomerycountymd.gov/COUNCIL/members/index.html

Is there a way to just recall Elrich?

Nope because he WON the election. Deal with it. Many of us MoCo residents are perfectly happy with Elrich.

I don’t hate him but I wish he would pass the torch. He has been in MoCo politics for as long as I’ve been old enough to vote. Somehow we just can’t seem to get rid of him. Even though he’s had the minority opinion on a lot of things, he’s always somehow there. Isn’t he getting up there in age too? Maybe he’ll retire?

I voted for him twice, but with his tax increases that lack of accountability for MCPS spending is unacceptable. He needs to go.

He can't do anything about the MCPS budget. The County Council decides how much to appropriate, the Board of Education decides what to spend it on.

They don’t have to find it. They could decrease it or increase it.

No, they can't decrease it. They can not increase it. Do you think there's support among Montgomery County voters for less funding for MCPS? Who do you hang out with?

You are correct that they cannot decrease it because of state law/maintenance of effort. But MCPS is asking for above the maintenance of effort. It's not a binary decision. The Board can find cost savings within MCPS (size of the central office for starters?) and still have enough funding for adequate instruction. Or they can fund the MCPS request and find savings elsewhere in the budget. There is a lot of special interest pork in the budget that got added because of federal pandemic money and now that money has gone away. Elrich and council just want to increase taxes because it's the easy thing to do versus the hard reality of being responsible with other people's money. And there is a vocal part of the population that enables this behavior. MCPS has done more with less in the past, the county budget has done more with less in the past, they don't even want to consider any efficiencies, Elrich and council act like a tax increase is a foregone conclusion without even considering the repeated multi-year concerns from the county council staff reports about the sustainability of such a plan.

Again, do you think there's support among Montgomery County voters for less funding for MCPS?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Our taxes are some of the lowest in the world; we need more like a 20% bump

That's not something Montgomery County alone can fix. That needs a federal solution to make everyone pay more so no jurisdiction can take advantage and get an unfair advantage. Higher state/county tax just makes one county less desirable to live in compared to other states/counties with lower taxes. You don't want to create an environment where jurisdictions can cheat, e.g. Ireland on the world scale with a super low corporate tax rate.

By the way, perfect timing, if you want to pay more you can overpay your Form 502 tax bill to Maryland or Montgomery County, I'm sure they won't complain if you overpay your taxes. That's your prerogative, don't drag other people down with you.

Increasing taxes would be counterproductive for MoCo, because MoCo will not see the benefit of those increased taxes. Those who pay the taxes (and cost the MoCo the least) are moving elsewhere, whether Frederick, NoVa, or elsewhere. Any budget projections based on increased taxes are a joke.

and any chance of attracting business is also less likely since nobody wants to live in a place with all these costs and 0 benefits

don't just post on an online forum, call or email your councilmembers if you live in moco

https://www.montgomerycountymd.gov/COUNCIL/members/index.html

Is there a way to just recall Elrich?

Nope because he WON the election. Deal with it. Many of us MoCo residents are perfectly happy with Elrich.

I don’t hate him but I wish he would pass the torch. He has been in MoCo politics for as long as I’ve been old enough to vote. Somehow we just can’t seem to get rid of him. Even though he’s had the minority opinion on a lot of things, he’s always somehow there. Isn’t he getting up there in age too? Maybe he’ll retire?

I voted for him twice, but with his tax increases that lack of accountability for MCPS spending is unacceptable. He needs to go.

He can't do anything about the MCPS budget. The County Council decides how much to appropriate, the Board of Education decides what to spend it on.

They don’t have to find it. They could decrease it or increase it.

No, they can't decrease it. They can not increase it. Do you think there's support among Montgomery County voters for less funding for MCPS? Who do you hang out with?

You are correct that they cannot decrease it because of state law/maintenance of effort. But MCPS is asking for above the maintenance of effort. It's not a binary decision. The Board can find cost savings within MCPS (size of the central office for starters?) and still have enough funding for adequate instruction. Or they can fund the MCPS request and find savings elsewhere in the budget. There is a lot of special interest pork in the budget that got added because of federal pandemic money and now that money has gone away. Elrich and council just want to increase taxes because it's the easy thing to do versus the hard reality of being responsible with other people's money. And there is a vocal part of the population that enables this behavior. MCPS has done more with less in the past, the county budget has done more with less in the past, they don't even want to consider any efficiencies, Elrich and council act like a tax increase is a foregone conclusion without even considering the repeated multi-year concerns from the county council staff reports about the sustainability of such a plan.

Again, do you think there's support among Montgomery County voters for less funding for MCPS?

Did you read the part where I wrote they can fund the MCPS request and find savings elsewhere in the budget? It's not a binary decision.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Our taxes are some of the lowest in the world; we need more like a 20% bump

That's not something Montgomery County alone can fix. That needs a federal solution to make everyone pay more so no jurisdiction can take advantage and get an unfair advantage. Higher state/county tax just makes one county less desirable to live in compared to other states/counties with lower taxes. You don't want to create an environment where jurisdictions can cheat, e.g. Ireland on the world scale with a super low corporate tax rate.

By the way, perfect timing, if you want to pay more you can overpay your Form 502 tax bill to Maryland or Montgomery County, I'm sure they won't complain if you overpay your taxes. That's your prerogative, don't drag other people down with you.

Increasing taxes would be counterproductive for MoCo, because MoCo will not see the benefit of those increased taxes. Those who pay the taxes (and cost the MoCo the least) are moving elsewhere, whether Frederick, NoVa, or elsewhere. Any budget projections based on increased taxes are a joke.

and any chance of attracting business is also less likely since nobody wants to live in a place with all these costs and 0 benefits

don't just post on an online forum, call or email your councilmembers if you live in moco

https://www.montgomerycountymd.gov/COUNCIL/members/index.html

Is there a way to just recall Elrich?

Nope because he WON the election. Deal with it. Many of us MoCo residents are perfectly happy with Elrich.

I don’t hate him but I wish he would pass the torch. He has been in MoCo politics for as long as I’ve been old enough to vote. Somehow we just can’t seem to get rid of him. Even though he’s had the minority opinion on a lot of things, he’s always somehow there. Isn’t he getting up there in age too? Maybe he’ll retire?

I voted for him twice, but with his tax increases that lack of accountability for MCPS spending is unacceptable. He needs to go.

He can't do anything about the MCPS budget. The County Council decides how much to appropriate, the Board of Education decides what to spend it on.

They don’t have to find it. They could decrease it or increase it.

No, they can't decrease it. They can not increase it. Do you think there's support among Montgomery County voters for less funding for MCPS? Who do you hang out with?

They’ve increased in the past and this year’s request from MCPS was well above MOE so they don’t have to fund the full request.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Our taxes are some of the lowest in the world; we need more like a 20% bump

That's not something Montgomery County alone can fix. That needs a federal solution to make everyone pay more so no jurisdiction can take advantage and get an unfair advantage. Higher state/county tax just makes one county less desirable to live in compared to other states/counties with lower taxes. You don't want to create an environment where jurisdictions can cheat, e.g. Ireland on the world scale with a super low corporate tax rate.

By the way, perfect timing, if you want to pay more you can overpay your Form 502 tax bill to Maryland or Montgomery County, I'm sure they won't complain if you overpay your taxes. That's your prerogative, don't drag other people down with you.

Increasing taxes would be counterproductive for MoCo, because MoCo will not see the benefit of those increased taxes. Those who pay the taxes (and cost the MoCo the least) are moving elsewhere, whether Frederick, NoVa, or elsewhere. Any budget projections based on increased taxes are a joke.

and any chance of attracting business is also less likely since nobody wants to live in a place with all these costs and 0 benefits

don't just post on an online forum, call or email your councilmembers if you live in moco

https://www.montgomerycountymd.gov/COUNCIL/members/index.html

Is there a way to just recall Elrich?

Nope because he WON the election. Deal with it. Many of us MoCo residents are perfectly happy with Elrich.

I don’t hate him but I wish he would pass the torch. He has been in MoCo politics for as long as I’ve been old enough to vote. Somehow we just can’t seem to get rid of him. Even though he’s had the minority opinion on a lot of things, he’s always somehow there. Isn’t he getting up there in age too? Maybe he’ll retire?

I voted for him twice, but with his tax increases that lack of accountability for MCPS spending is unacceptable. He needs to go.

He can't do anything about the MCPS budget. The County Council decides how much to appropriate, the Board of Education decides what to spend it on.

They don’t have to find it. They could decrease it or increase it.

No, they can't decrease it. They can not increase it. Do you think there's support among Montgomery County voters for less funding for MCPS? Who do you hang out with?

You are correct that they cannot decrease it because of state law/maintenance of effort. But MCPS is asking for above the maintenance of effort. It's not a binary decision. The Board can find cost savings within MCPS (size of the central office for starters?) and still have enough funding for adequate instruction. Or they can fund the MCPS request and find savings elsewhere in the budget. There is a lot of special interest pork in the budget that got added because of federal pandemic money and now that money has gone away. Elrich and council just want to increase taxes because it's the easy thing to do versus the hard reality of being responsible with other people's money. And there is a vocal part of the population that enables this behavior. MCPS has done more with less in the past, the county budget has done more with less in the past, they don't even want to consider any efficiencies, Elrich and council act like a tax increase is a foregone conclusion without even considering the repeated multi-year concerns from the county council staff reports about the sustainability of such a plan.

This was before MCPS became a jobs program. There is no going back now. So glad my work no longer pays for this debacle

[Anonymous]

Anecdotal only, of course. But I was unable to turn back in a chrome book during COVID when my kid was switching schools. It was only a year old, and there was no mechanism to turn it in. I have since talked to several other parents who have extra MCPS chrome books at home. Not for lack of trying to return them.

That's just one program that could be tightened up a bit to reduce waste. Yet there is no way to force them to find these efficiencies if Council and the CE continue to give huge increases.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Anecdotal only, of course. But I was unable to turn back in a chrome book during COVID when my kid was switching schools. It was only a year old, and there was no mechanism to turn it in. I have since talked to several other parents who have extra MCPS chrome books at home. Not for lack of trying to return them.

That's just one program that could be tightened up a bit to reduce waste. Yet there is no way to force them to find these efficiencies if Council and the CE continue to give huge increases.

Really? As a parent, during COVID, I returned a chromebook, and I twice swapped out a chromebook that had stopped working for one that worked.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Anecdotal only, of course. But I was unable to turn back in a chrome book during COVID when my kid was switching schools. It was only a year old, and there was no mechanism to turn it in. I have since talked to several other parents who have extra MCPS chrome books at home. Not for lack of trying to return them.

That's just one program that could be tightened up a bit to reduce waste. Yet there is no way to force them to find these efficiencies if Council and the CE continue to give huge increases.

Really? As a parent, during COVID, I returned a chromebook, and I twice swapped out a chromebook that had stopped working for one that worked.

They wouldn't take the chromebook. Told my child to take it on to high school. But he wasn't staying in the same cluster. The middle school wouldn't take it and the new high school wouldn't take it.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Anecdotal only, of course. But I was unable to turn back in a chrome book during COVID when my kid was switching schools. It was only a year old, and there was no mechanism to turn it in. I have since talked to several other parents who have extra MCPS chrome books at home. Not for lack of trying to return them.

That's just one program that could be tightened up a bit to reduce waste. Yet there is no way to force them to find these efficiencies if Council and the CE continue to give huge increases.

Really? As a parent, during COVID, I returned a chromebook, and I twice swapped out a chromebook that had stopped working for one that worked.

They wouldn't take the chromebook. Told my child to take it on to high school. But he wasn't staying in the same cluster. The middle school wouldn't take it and the new high school wouldn't take it.

I don't understand the problem, then. Why wouldn't your child just take it on to high school? Did you want to return the chromebook to the middle school and then get a different chromebook from the high school? My middle schooler just took the same chromebook to high school. In fact, I'm pretty sure I remember specific instructions to do it that way.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Our taxes are some of the lowest in the world; we need more like a 20% bump

That's not something Montgomery County alone can fix. That needs a federal solution to make everyone pay more so no jurisdiction can take advantage and get an unfair advantage. Higher state/county tax just makes one county less desirable to live in compared to other states/counties with lower taxes. You don't want to create an environment where jurisdictions can cheat, e.g. Ireland on the world scale with a super low corporate tax rate.

By the way, perfect timing, if you want to pay more you can overpay your Form 502 tax bill to Maryland or Montgomery County, I'm sure they won't complain if you overpay your taxes. That's your prerogative, don't drag other people down with you.

Increasing taxes would be counterproductive for MoCo, because MoCo will not see the benefit of those increased taxes. Those who pay the taxes (and cost the MoCo the least) are moving elsewhere, whether Frederick, NoVa, or elsewhere. Any budget projections based on increased taxes are a joke.

and any chance of attracting business is also less likely since nobody wants to live in a place with all these costs and 0 benefits

don't just post on an online forum, call or email your councilmembers if you live in moco

https://www.montgomerycountymd.gov/COUNCIL/members/index.html

Is there a way to just recall Elrich?

Nope because he WON the election. Deal with it. Many of us MoCo residents are perfectly happy with Elrich.

I don’t hate him but I wish he would pass the torch. He has been in MoCo politics for as long as I’ve been old enough to vote. Somehow we just can’t seem to get rid of him. Even though he’s had the minority opinion on a lot of things, he’s always somehow there. Isn’t he getting up there in age too? Maybe he’ll retire?

I voted for him twice, but with his tax increases that lack of accountability for MCPS spending is unacceptable. He needs to go.

He can't do anything about the MCPS budget. The County Council decides how much to appropriate, the Board of Education decides what to spend it on.

They don’t have to find it. They could decrease it or increase it.

No, they can't decrease it. They can not increase it. Do you think there's support among Montgomery County voters for less funding for MCPS? Who do you hang out with?

You are correct that they cannot decrease it because of state law/maintenance of effort. But MCPS is asking for above the maintenance of effort. It's not a binary decision. The Board can find cost savings within MCPS (size of the central office for starters?) and still have enough funding for adequate instruction. Or they can fund the MCPS request and find savings elsewhere in the budget. There is a lot of special interest pork in the budget that got added because of federal pandemic money and now that money has gone away. Elrich and council just want to increase taxes because it's the easy thing to do versus the hard reality of being responsible with other people's money. And there is a vocal part of the population that enables this behavior. MCPS has done more with less in the past, the county budget has done more with less in the past, they don't even want to consider any efficiencies, Elrich and council act like a tax increase is a foregone conclusion without even considering the repeated multi-year concerns from the county council staff reports about the sustainability of such a plan.

Didn't they just massively increase the number of central office jobs just last year?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Anecdotal only, of course. But I was unable to turn back in a chrome book during COVID when my kid was switching schools. It was only a year old, and there was no mechanism to turn it in. I have since talked to several other parents who have extra MCPS chrome books at home. Not for lack of trying to return them.

That's just one program that could be tightened up a bit to reduce waste. Yet there is no way to force them to find these efficiencies if Council and the CE continue to give huge increases.

There's a lot MCPS could do. I'm not even an expert and just off the top of my head largely from following the news:

* Millions were given to the Kid's museum because one member of the BoE wife runs it
* Millions spent on Leader in Me training that everyone seems to hate
* Millions spent on Curriciulum 2.0 and Benchmark which were just bad decisions
* Millions embezzled
* Millions to fund new central office jobs that have 0 impact on anyone's education, just create busy work

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Our taxes are some of the lowest in the world; we need more like a 20% bump

That's not something Montgomery County alone can fix. That needs a federal solution to make everyone pay more so no jurisdiction can take advantage and get an unfair advantage. Higher state/county tax just makes one county less desirable to live in compared to other states/counties with lower taxes. You don't want to create an environment where jurisdictions can cheat, e.g. Ireland on the world scale with a super low corporate tax rate.

By the way, perfect timing, if you want to pay more you can overpay your Form 502 tax bill to Maryland or Montgomery County, I'm sure they won't complain if you overpay your taxes. That's your prerogative, don't drag other people down with you.

Increasing taxes would be counterproductive for MoCo, because MoCo will not see the benefit of those increased taxes. Those who pay the taxes (and cost the MoCo the least) are moving elsewhere, whether Frederick, NoVa, or elsewhere. Any budget projections based on increased taxes are a joke.

and any chance of attracting business is also less likely since nobody wants to live in a place with all these costs and 0 benefits

don't just post on an online forum, call or email your councilmembers if you live in moco

https://www.montgomerycountymd.gov/COUNCIL/members/index.html

Is there a way to just recall Elrich?

Nope because he WON the election. Deal with it. Many of us MoCo residents are perfectly happy with Elrich.

I don’t hate him but I wish he would pass the torch. He has been in MoCo politics for as long as I’ve been old enough to vote. Somehow we just can’t seem to get rid of him. Even though he’s had the minority opinion on a lot of things, he’s always somehow there. Isn’t he getting up there in age too? Maybe he’ll retire?

I voted for him twice, but with his tax increases that lack of accountability for MCPS spending is unacceptable. He needs to go.

He can't do anything about the MCPS budget. The County Council decides how much to appropriate, the Board of Education decides what to spend it on.

I don't agree with that. Both Elrich and County Council can put pressure on the Board of Education to scrutinize MCPS spending. If they make enough noise and convey the public's point of view that there is fat to be trimmed, it would be harder for the Board of Education to turn a blind eye. They can also not recommend/appropriate enough, forcing the Board to prioritize. Or if they make enough noise, maybe the public would vote for board members with a spine. Seems like you can't get elected to the board without the support of the teacher's union, which seems like a conflict of interest. Like anyone would support a board member that wants to restructure their dept or reduce their pay/benefits/ancillary perks.

I'm not for reducing teacher pay just reigning in the wasteful spending, which is significant. I will vote against any board or council member that supports a tax increase without making every possible effort to trim the fat from the MCPS budget first. I will also never vote for El Rich for anything again.

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Anonymous wrote:Our taxes are some of the lowest in the world; we need more like a 20% bump

That's not something Montgomery County alone can fix. That needs a federal solution to make everyone pay more so no jurisdiction can take advantage and get an unfair advantage. Higher state/county tax just makes one county less desirable to live in compared to other states/counties with lower taxes. You don't want to create an environment where jurisdictions can cheat, e.g. Ireland on the world scale with a super low corporate tax rate.

By the way, perfect timing, if you want to pay more you can overpay your Form 502 tax bill to Maryland or Montgomery County, I'm sure they won't complain if you overpay your taxes. That's your prerogative, don't drag other people down with you.

Increasing taxes would be counterproductive for MoCo, because MoCo will not see the benefit of those increased taxes. Those who pay the taxes (and cost the MoCo the least) are moving elsewhere, whether Frederick, NoVa, or elsewhere. Any budget projections based on increased taxes are a joke.

and any chance of attracting business is also less likely since nobody wants to live in a place with all these costs and 0 benefits

don't just post on an online forum, call or email your councilmembers if you live in moco

https://www.montgomerycountymd.gov/COUNCIL/members/index.html

Is there a way to just recall Elrich?

Nope because he WON the election. Deal with it. Many of us MoCo residents are perfectly happy with Elrich.

I don’t hate him but I wish he would pass the torch. He has been in MoCo politics for as long as I’ve been old enough to vote. Somehow we just can’t seem to get rid of him. Even though he’s had the minority opinion on a lot of things, he’s always somehow there. Isn’t he getting up there in age too? Maybe he’ll retire?

I voted for him twice, but with his tax increases that lack of accountability for MCPS spending is unacceptable. He needs to go.

He can't do anything about the MCPS budget. The County Council decides how much to appropriate, the Board of Education decides what to spend it on.

I don't agree with that. Both Elrich and County Council can put pressure on the Board of Education to scrutinize MCPS spending. If they make enough noise and convey the public's point of view that there is fat to be trimmed, it would be harder for the Board of Education to turn a blind eye. They can also not recommend/appropriate enough, forcing the Board to prioritize. Or if they make enough noise, maybe the public would vote for board members with a spine. Seems like you can't get elected to the board without the support of the teacher's union, which seems like a conflict of interest. Like anyone would support a board member that wants to restructure their dept or reduce their pay/benefits/ancillary perks.

I'm not for reducing teacher pay just reigning in the wasteful spending, which is significant. I will vote against any board or council member that supports a tax increase without making every possible effort to trim the fat from the MCPS budget first. I will also never vote for El Rich for anything again.

Councilmembers have no say about particular items in the MCPS budget, and Elrich is unlikely to run for anything again. Other than that, though!