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By Kenneth C. Rossignol
ST. MARY'S TODAY

LEONARDTOWN --- The St. Mary's Board of Commissioners held a budget work session this past Tuesday and at the meeting the parks director, Phil Rollins, rolled out a proposal for a portable stage for special events and other times when the commissioners and other politicians gather to bloviate, cut ribbons, and watch as color guards march.
At present, the county's staff has to assemble the stages for these many events.

The County Commissioners have a responsibility to the property tax payers to stop this foolish spending on unneeded proposals such as this stage and adopt the constant yield in order to negate the huge assessments being heaped on property owners by the State tax assessors.
The state property tax assessments have leaped to obscene levels, following aberrations in the real estate market when prices soared 3 years ago and now homes which cannot be sold for anywhere near where they are being taxed will have owners desperate to figure out how to pay their tax bill.

The St. Mary's Commissioners have not adopted the constant yield, which means they have to lower the tax rate in order to keep a property owner's tax bill from soaring due to the higher assessment. At last week's budget session, Commissioner Tommy Mattingly (D. Leonardtown), who during his first term in office, along with three commissioners who were defeated in the 2002 elections, raised every tax possible, some of them twice.

Mattingly almost lost the 2002 election to Republican Joe Gass, with just a shift in 65 votes would have sent him packing.
Mattingly became very sensible with his brush with defeat as he watched his fellow tax-hiking pals, Julie Randall, Shelby Guazzo and Joe Anderson get the axe.

Now, Mattingly does not face a possible election turnout as he is limited from running for a third term.
Its a shame, as when he knew he had to face the voters again he suddenly became fiscally responsible and attained a good record on budget issues between 2002 and 2006.

At last week's meeting, Mattingly made the comment on the portable stage for $125,000 that the county should spend the money due to the "risk" of injury to county staff on handling heavy plywood for assembling stages for events.

Someone will have to explain to the voters how plywood became heavy or how risk will disappear if the pontificating and blowhard commissioners don't have a grand stage built of gold from the taxpayers.
If Mattingly had to run again for commissioner he would not be reverting to his liberal tax and spend persona.

For that reason alone, term limits should be abandoned.

In the meantime, the commissioners should each be required to buy or borrow their own milk crate if they want to be elevated above the crowd for these "events" which are nothing other than campaign events. If they want to be elevated above the public even higher they can buy more milk crates, but they run about $10 at Wal-Mart.

Certainly they could drive behind a local grocery store and steal one.
When old Hambone McKay was commissioner, he even dragged around a county staffer to videotape all of his speeches at any gathering of more than 3 people. Where will the campaigning a public expense end?

The St. Mary's Commissioners can simply skip spending $125,000 on a portable stage and apply the savings to those budget cuts that they did make last week at the budget session.   The constant yield is the only way possible to counteract the obscene increases in assessments passed out to citizens as a New Year's present from the O'Malley Administration.

Spending levels need to be reduced as the county will only see less money from the State as cuts take place across the board. Should the commissioners fail to adopt the constant yield and lower the county's tax rate to negate the huge assessment hikes then all hell will break lose.
There are two Republicans on the board who should vote to adopt the constant yield. Commissioner Kenny Dement (R. Piney Point) and Commissioner Larry Jarboe (R. Golden Beach) They shouldn't have to think too hard to know that this is the only course the county can take.
That leaves the three Democrats.

Commissioner Jackie Russell is a card carrying liberal of the first order. He will moan and groan about the high assessments that the state has put on the poor taxpayer and then he will do nothing to adopt the constant yield. Russell will talk about "bile", like he did down at St. Mary's City on the boathouse deal and once again leave everyone with their heads shaking drying to understand what in the hell he was talking about.

With Russell's tainted vote on the St. George's Peninsula land deal, possibly a payoff for his employer, the Seafarer's Union, his political future is shaky at best.
That leaves Mattingly and Raley.

The best way to get these officials to act in the best interests of the taxpayer is for Sen. Roy Dyson and Delegates Wood and Bohanan to remove the term limits on commissioners.
If Raley and Mattingly were able to run again they would spend the next two years watching out how they spend the money of the taxpayers, at a time when it could never be more important.

Last week, the board considered many budget proposals, including Rollins coming in with a plan for $2 million for more ball fields and he still had an equestrian center at the Chaptico Park.

Raley, Mattingly, Randall, Anderson and Guazzo had approved the taxpayer funded stables for those who own horses, during the 1998-2002 board.   How could any spending proposal be more instructive than a bunch of politicians who somehow think it is a good use of your tax money to pay for a roof over the head of someone's horse? These pleasure horses are not used to plow fields or deliver ice but for entering into shows, fox hunting or for Sunday jaunts.

There are several private stables in the county that offer stabling for horse owners, have riding rings and the owners of those stables have bank debts to pay, employees to pay and tax bills to pay and somehow the county thought it was okay to enter into the private business of running horse stables at a county park.

The Board at last week's meeting, cut the $570,000 for the equestrian center from Rollins spending plans. They got rid of the $2 million ball fields proposal, what they didn't do was to order the summary execution of the parks director for the crime of being a dunderhead.

Lets see if they go ahead with the portable stage for $125,000 or if the commissioners suddenly find a bargain on five milk crates.