Anonymous wrote:Blair by far.
Just a few examples of his fiscal mismanagement:
1) I want to help the environment, but drastic changes at a county level, with no outside funding, just doesn't make sense. I've used this analogy before here -- MoCo's attempt to dent climate change is like me trimming my nails to lose weight. It has to be a global effort, or at least a national one, and we are foolish to spend county tax dollars on significant changes. We should be leveraging federal funding to the fullest extent possible. I'm not saying we should ignore the need for upgrades. We should do it, but on a smaller more sustainable scale. Elrich just implemented a Net Zero policy on government capital projects -- they can't use more energy than they create -- adding 10% or more to the cost of every single project.
2) He is in bed with the unions, so he gave them outrageously high hazard pay during covid (far, far higher than surrounding jurisdictions) and there were almost no decent mechanisms in place to ensure compliance, so there was a lot of fraud. He promised that FEMA would reimburse the county, but I think he ended up with maybe 20% reimbursed. He gave VOLUNTEER firefighters hazard pay. People who don't have to work.
3) He raided the OPEB fund that prefunds retiree health benefits. This OPEB fund is required by Government Accounting Standards Board and required to maintain our AAA bond rating. There is a formal process to go through before using these funds differently, and he just circumvented it.
Good summary. I feel like a lot of cfun and not residents are really ignorant about all this.