Decline of MoCo?

[Anonymous]

Anyone hear about the Supreme Court ruling that MD's tax structure (essentially levying a tariff on certain taxpayers) is illegal and MD has to pay tons of money back (with interest) to affected tax payers?

Apparently, MoCo is the hardest hit, and will have to pay back about $115m over the next two years, and will lose $24m annually from the illegal taxation.

I know MoCo has a HUGE budget, but apparently it only has a reserve of about $200m. Anyone else concerned this is going to negatively impact schools and community services for years to come in MoCo? On the Kojo show yesterday, George Leventhal mentioned that schools will be affected.

What with the March WaPo story on possible property tax hikes for MoCo, this makes me doubly nervous.

[Anonymous]

No one is worried about this?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:No one is worried about this?

People just don't understand the impact yet. When budgets are cut, the unions (teachers, police, county employees) will go berserk. When schools and services are cut, those who are affected will go berserk. When taxes are hiked, everyone will go berserk.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Anyone hear about the Supreme Court ruling that MD's tax structure (essentially levying a tariff on certain taxpayers) is illegal and MD has to pay tons of money back (with interest) to affected tax payers?

Apparently, MoCo is the hardest hit, and will have to pay back about $115m over the next two years, and will lose $24m annually from the illegal taxation.

I know MoCo has a HUGE budget, but apparently it only has a reserve of about $200m. Anyone else concerned this is going to negatively impact schools and community services for years to come in MoCo? On the Kojo show yesterday, George Leventhal mentioned that schools will be affected.

What with the March WaPo story on possible property tax hikes for MoCo, this makes me doubly nervous.

Why would MoCo be the hardest hit? (I'm not saying it's not, but do you have a link explaining why MoCo would be harder hit than other counties in Maryland?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Anyone hear about the Supreme Court ruling that MD's tax structure (essentially levying a tariff on certain taxpayers) is illegal and MD has to pay tons of money back (with interest) to affected tax payers?

Apparently, MoCo is the hardest hit, and will have to pay back about $115m over the next two years, and will lose $24m annually from the illegal taxation.

I know MoCo has a HUGE budget, but apparently it only has a reserve of about $200m. Anyone else concerned this is going to negatively impact schools and community services for years to come in MoCo? On the Kojo show yesterday, George Leventhal mentioned that schools will be affected.

What with the March WaPo story on possible property tax hikes for MoCo, this makes me doubly nervous.

Why would MoCo be the hardest hit? (I'm not saying it's not, but do you have a link explaining why MoCo would be harder hit than other counties in Maryland?

Did you listen to the Kojo show link? They said it's because MoCo disproportionately has taxpayers that fall into this category. Of the $44m per year that was generated statewide from this type of taxation, MoCo received $24m of it.

[Anonymous]

It's a $10 million hit this year. Not fun, but it can be absorbed in a $5 billion budget. It's FY17 that people need to worry about.

Leggett said a property tax increase next year is pretty inevitable.

However, as a County employee, I've gotten some serious raises over the past 2 years and will be doing OK in FY16, too. (While I like my raises, I think it's a horrible policy and budget move). Many services continue to be unrestored from the recession and may get cut further.

You all should have voted for Phil Andrews for Executive.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Anyone hear about the Supreme Court ruling that MD's tax structure (essentially levying a tariff on certain taxpayers) is illegal and MD has to pay tons of money back (with interest) to affected tax payers?

Apparently, MoCo is the hardest hit, and will have to pay back about $115m over the next two years, and will lose $24m annually from the illegal taxation.

I know MoCo has a HUGE budget, but apparently it only has a reserve of about $200m. Anyone else concerned this is going to negatively impact schools and community services for years to come in MoCo? On the Kojo show yesterday, George Leventhal mentioned that schools will be affected.

What with the March WaPo story on possible property tax hikes for MoCo, this makes me doubly nervous.

Why would MoCo be the hardest hit? (I'm not saying it's not, but do you have a link explaining why MoCo would be harder hit than other counties in Maryland?

Did you listen to the Kojo show link? They said it's because MoCo disproportionately has taxpayers that fall into this category. Of the $44m per year that was generated statewide from this type of taxation, MoCo received $24m of it.

Not true, it's because MoCo has the largest population. What's really only going to kill MoCo is the reduction in funds from the state. They also have 5 years to pay.

[Anonymous]

it is under 1% of the budget. It is neither good news nor a complete disaster.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Anyone hear about the Supreme Court ruling that MD's tax structure (essentially levying a tariff on certain taxpayers) is illegal and MD has to pay tons of money back (with interest) to affected tax payers?

Apparently, MoCo is the hardest hit, and will have to pay back about $115m over the next two years, and will lose $24m annually from the illegal taxation.

I know MoCo has a HUGE budget, but apparently it only has a reserve of about $200m. Anyone else concerned this is going to negatively impact schools and community services for years to come in MoCo? On the Kojo show yesterday, George Leventhal mentioned that schools will be affected.

What with the March WaPo story on possible property tax hikes for MoCo, this makes me doubly nervous.

Why would MoCo be the hardest hit? (I'm not saying it's not, but do you have a link explaining why MoCo would be harder hit than other counties in Maryland?

Did you listen to the Kojo show link? They said it's because MoCo disproportionately has taxpayers that fall into this category. Of the $44m per year that was generated statewide from this type of taxation, MoCo received $24m of it.

Not true, it's because MoCo has the largest population. What's really only going to kill MoCo is the reduction in funds from the state. They also have 5 years to pay.

No, it has the largest population, but this tax is specifically on people who work out of state. So MoCo has more of those than most counties.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:It's a $10 million hit this year. Not fun, but it can be absorbed in a $5 billion budget. It's FY17 that people need to worry about.

Leggett said a property tax increase next year is pretty inevitable.

However, as a County employee, I've gotten some serious raises over the past 2 years and will be doing OK in FY16, too. (While I like my raises, I think it's a horrible policy and budget move). Many services continue to be unrestored from the recession and may get cut further.

You all should have voted for Phil Andrews for Executive.

I was a county employee for many years. Salaries are reasonable. The issue is the county overspends and has poor priorities. It went downhill many years ago but people have seen to overlook that - that is why so many people have or will move out of the county. There is so much waste in the country government that needs to be looked at and reconfigured.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Anyone hear about the Supreme Court ruling that MD's tax structure (essentially levying a tariff on certain taxpayers) is illegal and MD has to pay tons of money back (with interest) to affected tax payers?

Apparently, MoCo is the hardest hit, and will have to pay back about $115m over the next two years, and will lose $24m annually from the illegal taxation.

I know MoCo has a HUGE budget, but apparently it only has a reserve of about $200m. Anyone else concerned this is going to negatively impact schools and community services for years to come in MoCo? On the Kojo show yesterday, George Leventhal mentioned that schools will be affected.

What with the March WaPo story on possible property tax hikes for MoCo, this makes me doubly nervous.

Why would MoCo be the hardest hit? (I'm not saying it's not, but do you have a link explaining why MoCo would be harder hit than other counties in Maryland?

Did you listen to the Kojo show link? They said it's because MoCo disproportionately has taxpayers that fall into this category. Of the $44m per year that was generated statewide from this type of taxation, MoCo received $24m of it.

Not true, it's because MoCo has the largest population. What's really only going to kill MoCo is the reduction in funds from the state. They also have 5 years to pay.

No, it has the largest population, but this tax is specifically on people who work out of state. So MoCo has more of those than most counties.

It isn't all people who work out of state - it's specifically directed to people who own S-Corporations. That said, the numbers are "going forward, certain small-business owners who pay income taxes to another state on income earned in that state will be able to claim a credit for both the state and county portions of the Maryland tax, costing Maryland an estimated $42 million a year in revenue."

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:It's a $10 million hit this year. Not fun, but it can be absorbed in a $5 billion budget. It's FY17 that people need to worry about.

Leggett said a property tax increase next year is pretty inevitable.

However, as a County employee, I've gotten some serious raises over the past 2 years and will be doing OK in FY16, too. (While I like my raises, I think it's a horrible policy and budget move). Many services continue to be unrestored from the recession and may get cut further.

You all should have voted for Phil Andrews for Executive.

I was a county employee for many years. Salaries are reasonable. The issue is the county overspends and has poor priorities. It went downhill many years ago but people have seen to overlook that - that is why so many people have or will move out of the county. There is so much waste in the country government that needs to be looked at and reconfigured.

I guess that's relative. From FY14 through FY16, I will have gotten a 20% raise. Is that happening for other, private sector workers in this area? Other than during the recession, County raises were double the CPI, at least. Is that large an increase particularly prudent given we haven't restored many services cut during the recession? 80-90% of the County budget is personnel costs, depending on which department you are looking at. Salaries are the driving factor in spending. I'll get an almost 6% raise in FY16, but the entire budget is only going up 1.7%. That means services are cut.

[Anonymous]

I guess that's relative. From FY14 through FY16, I will have gotten a 20% raise. Is that happening for other, private sector workers in this area? Other than during the recession, County raises were double the CPI, at least. Is that large an increase particularly prudent given we haven't restored many services cut during the recession? 80-90% of the County budget is personnel costs, depending on which department you are looking at. Salaries are the driving factor in spending. I'll get an almost 6% raise in FY16, but the entire budget is only going up 1.7%. That means services are cut.

Wow. Fairfax County is not getting raises anything close to this.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:It's a $10 million hit this year. Not fun, but it can be absorbed in a $5 billion budget. It's FY17 that people need to worry about.

Leggett said a property tax increase next year is pretty inevitable.

However, as a County employee, I've gotten some serious raises over the past 2 years and will be doing OK in FY16, too. (While I like my raises, I think it's a horrible policy and budget move). Many services continue to be unrestored from the recession and may get cut further.

You all should have voted for Phil Andrews for Executive.

I was a county employee for many years. Salaries are reasonable. The issue is the county overspends and has poor priorities. It went downhill many years ago but people have seen to overlook that - that is why so many people have or will move out of the county. There is so much waste in the country government that needs to be looked at and reconfigured.

I guess that's relative. From FY14 through FY16, I will have gotten a 20% raise. Is that happening for other, private sector workers in this area? Other than during the recession, County raises were double the CPI, at least. Is that large an increase particularly prudent given we haven't restored many services cut during the recession? 80-90% of the County budget is personnel costs, depending on which department you are looking at. Salaries are the driving factor in spending. I'll get an almost 6% raise in FY16, but the entire budget is only going up 1.7%. That means services are cut.

A 20% raise is not reasonable but there were many years of no raises and it is trying to make up for that. The union is very vocal and good at advocating that stuff, just not willing to help employees directly who are in bad situations. Given the cost to live in the county, none of it is unreasonable. There are plenty of areas that can be cut.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:It's a $10 million hit this year. Not fun, but it can be absorbed in a $5 billion budget. It's FY17 that people need to worry about.

Leggett said a property tax increase next year is pretty inevitable.

However, as a County employee, I've gotten some serious raises over the past 2 years and will be doing OK in FY16, too. (While I like my raises, I think it's a horrible policy and budget move). Many services continue to be unrestored from the recession and may get cut further.

You all should have voted for Phil Andrews for Executive.

I was a county employee for many years. Salaries are reasonable. The issue is the county overspends and has poor priorities. It went downhill many years ago but people have seen to overlook that - that is why so many people have or will move out of the county. There is so much waste in the country government that needs to be looked at and reconfigured.

I guess that's relative. From FY14 through FY16, I will have gotten a 20% raise. Is that happening for other, private sector workers in this area? Other than during the recession, County raises were double the CPI, at least. Is that large an increase particularly prudent given we haven't restored many services cut during the recession? 80-90% of the County budget is personnel costs, depending on which department you are looking at. Salaries are the driving factor in spending. I'll get an almost 6% raise in FY16, but the entire budget is only going up 1.7%. That means services are cut.

A 20% raise is not reasonable but there were many years of no raises and it is trying to make up for that. The union is very vocal and good at advocating that stuff, just not willing to help employees directly who are in bad situations. Given the cost to live in the county, none of it is unreasonable. There are plenty of areas that can be cut.

Why "make up" for that when inflation had died? Right before the recession, from FY07 through FY10, County employees (who were not at the top of their pay grade) totaled a compounded 29.7% wage increase. While the CPI increased by 12.2% during the same period. So we were already well ahead of the game.

I'm not saying don't give raises and COLAs. I like my raises just like anyone else would. I'm just saying they should be more moderate until critical services are fully restored. Until the energy tax increase can be abolished. Your tax dollar is paying for a lot less than it was 7 years ago.



http://www.montgomerycountymd.gov/council/Resources/Files/agenda/cm/2014/140424/20140424_GO2-1-MCG.pdf