Elrich property tax increase

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Here's a summary of all the changes:
https://mocoshow.com/blog/county-executive-recommends-10-cent-increase-in-countys-property-tax-rate-to-be-used-exclusively-to-fully-fund-mcps-budget-request/

Notice things like we'll now have to pay for parking on Saturdays. That'll be great for businesses in places like Bethesda -- consumers will just move on to nearby DC or VA instead for their shopping.

No joke. I quit going to downtown Bethesda many years ago thanks to the horrendous parking situation much less hassle to go to Tysons even with the extra driving

The "horrendous parking situation" meaning you have to pay a few dollars to park in a garage that might not be right across from your destination, because the one right across from your destination is full of the cars of other people who parked there?

Horrendous parking situation in the sense of already not having enough garages and then waiting for a huge tow of cars to go in and out of a parking garage, delaying me by 10 minutes, driving to the next garage and having the same experience, finally finding something 0.8 miles away and showing up 30 minutes late to my reservation which has now been given away

There is a huge excess of parking in downtown Bethesda. A few of the garages are in demand, the rest are mostly empty.

https://www.bethesda.org/bethesda/parking-map

You can nitpick my experience all you want. The reality is that the supply of parking is insufficient for areas where they expect people to actually want to shop or eat, and therefore they have lost a lot of business opportunities

I'm not nitpicking your experience at all. I'm sure it happened just as you said. The reality is that

1. there is a huge number of empty parking spaces in downtown Bethesda
2. there are a lot of people going where you're trying to go (because otherwise the parking garages would be empty)

You're describing a It's So Crowded, Nobody Goes There Anymore problem, not a lack-of-parking problem.

The problem with Bethesda is that it’s for old people now. Their generation likes driving around in big cars and doesn’t like walking very far even if they can.

No, it's not. If it were, it wouldn't be crowded. What does seem to be true, is that Bethesda is for people who want to park in front of their destination for free to complain about.

Oh, you mean the people who wanted to live in a suburb???

Montgomery County has plenty of chain restaurants with their own large, no-pay parking lots, if that's what you're looking for.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Here's a summary of all the changes:
https://mocoshow.com/blog/county-executive-recommends-10-cent-increase-in-countys-property-tax-rate-to-be-used-exclusively-to-fully-fund-mcps-budget-request/

Notice things like we'll now have to pay for parking on Saturdays. That'll be great for businesses in places like Bethesda -- consumers will just move on to nearby DC or VA instead for their shopping.

No joke. I quit going to downtown Bethesda many years ago thanks to the horrendous parking situation much less hassle to go to Tysons even with the extra driving

The "horrendous parking situation" meaning you have to pay a few dollars to park in a garage that might not be right across from your destination, because the one right across from your destination is full of the cars of other people who parked there?

Horrendous parking situation in the sense of already not having enough garages and then waiting for a huge tow of cars to go in and out of a parking garage, delaying me by 10 minutes, driving to the next garage and having the same experience, finally finding something 0.8 miles away and showing up 30 minutes late to my reservation which has now been given away

There is a huge excess of parking in downtown Bethesda. A few of the garages are in demand, the rest are mostly empty.

https://www.bethesda.org/bethesda/parking-map

You can nitpick my experience all you want. The reality is that the supply of parking is insufficient for areas where they expect people to actually want to shop or eat, and therefore they have lost a lot of business opportunities

I'm not nitpicking your experience at all. I'm sure it happened just as you said. The reality is that

1. there is a huge number of empty parking spaces in downtown Bethesda
2. there are a lot of people going where you're trying to go (because otherwise the parking garages would be empty)

You're describing a It's So Crowded, Nobody Goes There Anymore problem, not a lack-of-parking problem.

The problem with Bethesda is that it’s for old people now. Their generation likes driving around in big cars and doesn’t like walking very far even if they can.

No, it's not. If it were, it wouldn't be crowded. What does seem to be true, is that Bethesda is for people who want to park in front of their destination for free to complain about.

Oh, you mean the people who wanted to live in a suburb???

Montgomery County has plenty of chain restaurants with their own large, no-pay parking lots, if that's what you're looking for.

The only thing I want to hear from smart growthers in this thread is why smart growth hasn’t resulted in more revenue and lower costs like they promised. There’s no way we should need to raise taxes with all the smart growth that happened over the last two decades.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Here's a summary of all the changes:
https://mocoshow.com/blog/county-executive-recommends-10-cent-increase-in-countys-property-tax-rate-to-be-used-exclusively-to-fully-fund-mcps-budget-request/

Notice things like we'll now have to pay for parking on Saturdays. That'll be great for businesses in places like Bethesda -- consumers will just move on to nearby DC or VA instead for their shopping.

No joke. I quit going to downtown Bethesda many years ago thanks to the horrendous parking situation much less hassle to go to Tysons even with the extra driving

Yeah, sure you did. You're paying an extra 4% there on your restaurant bill due to their higher restaurant sales tax.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Here's a summary of all the changes:
https://mocoshow.com/blog/county-executive-recommends-10-cent-increase-in-countys-property-tax-rate-to-be-used-exclusively-to-fully-fund-mcps-budget-request/

Notice things like we'll now have to pay for parking on Saturdays. That'll be great for businesses in places like Bethesda -- consumers will just move on to nearby DC or VA instead for their shopping.

No joke. I quit going to downtown Bethesda many years ago thanks to the horrendous parking situation much less hassle to go to Tysons even with the extra driving

Yeah, sure you did. You're paying an extra 4% there on your restaurant bill due to their higher restaurant sales tax.

Np- I stopped as well. The restaurants are just not that good to deal with the parking. Bethesda is just like a mall, without being enclosed. DC is where you go for decent restaurants.

[Anonymous]

I am a MoCo homeowner, an MCPS employee and a parent of two MCPS students. The ONLY way I support that increase is if there is some serious oversight on how that money is spent. If it’s actually 100 percent going to supporting teacher and support staff salaries to lower class sizes and make it easier for kids to get the help they need? Great! Want to spend it on breakfast and lunch for every kid? Also great in my book. Let’s raise school psychologist salaries too, so we have a chance to hire the mental health supports so many kids desperately need right now.

On the other hand, if one penny of that tax increase is going to yet another central office position, bullshit like Leader In Me, the absolutely atrocious online FEV Tutoring program? Then I am one hundred percent opposed.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Here's a summary of all the changes:
https://mocoshow.com/blog/county-executive-recommends-10-cent-increase-in-countys-property-tax-rate-to-be-used-exclusively-to-fully-fund-mcps-budget-request/

Notice things like we'll now have to pay for parking on Saturdays. That'll be great for businesses in places like Bethesda -- consumers will just move on to nearby DC or VA instead for their shopping.

No joke. I quit going to downtown Bethesda many years ago thanks to the horrendous parking situation much less hassle to go to Tysons even with the extra driving

Yeah, sure you did. You're paying an extra 4% there on your restaurant bill due to their higher restaurant sales tax.

Np- I stopped as well. The restaurants are just not that good to deal with the parking. Bethesda is just like a mall, without being enclosed. DC is where you go for decent restaurants.

That's fine, and I agree with you that Bethesda restaurants are pretty mediocre and you'll find better options in DC (parking in DC is even worse than Bethesda, though). It just didn't make sense for the PP to act as though trekking out to Tysons was some sort of cost cutting measure because of the cost of Bethesda parking.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Here's a summary of all the changes:
https://mocoshow.com/blog/county-executive-recommends-10-cent-increase-in-countys-property-tax-rate-to-be-used-exclusively-to-fully-fund-mcps-budget-request/

Notice things like we'll now have to pay for parking on Saturdays. That'll be great for businesses in places like Bethesda -- consumers will just move on to nearby DC or VA instead for their shopping.

No joke. I quit going to downtown Bethesda many years ago thanks to the horrendous parking situation much less hassle to go to Tysons even with the extra driving

Yeah, sure you did. You're paying an extra 4% there on your restaurant bill due to their higher restaurant sales tax.

Np- I stopped as well. The restaurants are just not that good to deal with the parking. Bethesda is just like a mall, without being enclosed. DC is where you go for decent restaurants.

That's fine, and I agree with you that Bethesda restaurants are pretty mediocre and you'll find better options in DC (parking in DC is even worse than Bethesda, though). It just didn't make sense for the PP to act as though trekking out to Tysons was some sort of cost cutting measure because of the cost of Bethesda parking.

That's because you're too stupid to have any reading comprehension. I said "parking hassle" not "parking fees"

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I am a MoCo homeowner, an MCPS employee and a parent of two MCPS students. The ONLY way I support that increase is if there is some serious oversight on how that money is spent. If it’s actually 100 percent going to supporting teacher and support staff salaries to lower class sizes and make it easier for kids to get the help they need? Great! Want to spend it on breakfast and lunch for every kid? Also great in my book. Let’s raise school psychologist salaries too, so we have a chance to hire the mental health supports so many kids desperately need right now.

On the other hand, if one penny of that tax increase is going to yet another central office position, bullshit like Leader In Me, the absolutely atrocious online FEV Tutoring program? Then I am one hundred percent opposed.

1. There will be no oversight because the council members are too busy with their side gigs.
2. School lunch and psychologists should be handled by HHS so that the funding doesn’t get rolled into the maintenance of effort requirements.
3. You better believe a lot of this money is going to central office and contractors.

[Anonymous]

When I go to Bethesda Row, I just park at that surface lot on Leland and walk a block. I guess people don't know about that lot or are just don't want to walk a block?

[Anonymous]

Do property tax increases still require the council's unanimous support, and is that likely?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:It ends up being a vicious cycle.

Revenue is down (or- Elrich can't control spending). So what do we do? Raise taxes.

People with means vote with their feet to neighboring counties, and VA.

Revenue is down again- and schools are a little worse, and crime is up. So what do we do- raise taxes.

Rinse, repeat.

People with means would pay tens of thousands of dollars to avoid a property tax increase of a few hundred dollars per year? I mean, maybe, but it's not a rational response.

For high earners with high value houses, the increase is substantial, especially when added every year. We got a tax assessment notice INCREASING the value of our property by $1 million dollars. The assessment is not accurate because the market has cooled down from last summer. When you add in the tax rate increase, we will be paying $12,000 MORE a year in property taxes. We will likely go from $19,000 a year in taxes to $31,000 a year. That equates to almost $2,600 in property taxes each month. I don’t expect anyone to feel sorry for us having a high value home but my point is that we are not talking about a few hundred dollars.

You're talking about a 50% increase in your property taxes, most of which comes from an increase in your assessment, which has nothing to do with the proposed property tax rate increase. And it will take several years to phase that assessment increase in if you live in the home.

But doesn't this destroy Elrich's inflation argument? Assessments are going up 20-40%, which is way over the inflation rate, so that's going to provide the county with tons of new revenue. Why does the county need yet another 10% on top of that?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Do property tax increases still require the council's unanimous support, and is that likely?

Technically, no.

The state overrode that, when they put in Maintenance of effort for schools.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Do property tax increases still require the council's unanimous support, and is that likely?

Technically, no.

The state overrode that, when they put in Maintenance of effort for schools.

Every time they want to raise local taxes, they claim it's for schools, but that money ends up being used elsewhere. This is the oldest trick in local politics...6

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I am a MoCo homeowner, an MCPS employee and a parent of two MCPS students. The ONLY way I support that increase is if there is some serious oversight on how that money is spent. If it’s actually 100 percent going to supporting teacher and support staff salaries to lower class sizes and make it easier for kids to get the help they need? Great! Want to spend it on breakfast and lunch for every kid? Also great in my book. Let’s raise school psychologist salaries too, so we have a chance to hire the mental health supports so many kids desperately need right now.

On the other hand, if one penny of that tax increase is going to yet another central office position, bullshit like Leader In Me, the absolutely atrocious online FEV Tutoring program? Then I am one hundred percent opposed.

The fraction of this increase that makes it back to MCPS will likely all go to various studies that will never be used for anything, more LIM training, and more Central Office administrative staff because that's where it always ends up. Nothing will improve unless they're forced to deal with their wasteful2 spending. They've made zero effort to combat these issues. Their solution is to pass the burden to the taxpayer.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Do property tax increases still require the council's unanimous support, and is that likely?

Technically, no.

The state overrode that, when they put in Maintenance of effort for schools.

Every time they want to raise local taxes, they claim it's for schools, but that money ends up being used elsewhere. This is the oldest trick in local politics...6

The thing is- Elrich can say this hike is directly for schools, and make it as such. But it frees up other money to be used elsewhere.

I saw a tweet that literally every department is up between 5 and 11 %.