St. Mary’s Teeters On $14 Million Tax Hike;

 
Increasing Spending by 4.6 Percent


as Economy Tanks

 

By Kenneth C. Rossignol

ST. MARY’S TODAY

 

LEONARDTOWN --- The St. Mary’s Commissioners are in the process of approving a 20.3 % increase in property taxes for St. Mary’s County, due to the now busted real estate boom market, which spiked the State of Maryland assessments on property and will cause taxes on property to go up by $14.5 million dollars.

With two Republicans on the Board along with three Democrats, St. Mary’s County will finalize its budget in the next few weeks, ending an odyssey which began last fall before the economy had dropped, drooped and otherwise slam dunked into the toilet.

With the ratings of President George Bush lower than that of Great Depression President Herbert Hoover, the only lower ratings of national politicians are those of the Democrat-controlled Congress.

Turning to an economic stimulus to jump start the economy, the Congress and the President quickly crafted a plan to send $600 to every taxpayer and even to some who don’t pay taxes.
Commissioner Larry Jarboe (R. Golden Beach) is the only announced vote on the board to maintain the constant yield and to cut spending in order to bring that about.  Commissioner Larry Jarboe (R. Piney Point) says he is willing to maintain the constant yield if someone will show him how to make the cuts and Commissioner Dan Raley (D. Great Mills) is the swing vote as Commissioners Russell and Mattingly are simply died in the wool tax and spend Democrats, even though they may wind up in a museum in the future as the last Democrats to serve on the St. Mary’s Commissioner Board.

“We are just borrowing money from the Chinese and then giving it to people here to spend,” said Del. John L. Bohanan Jr. (D. Lexington Park) as he criticized the latest attempt to stop the economy from slipping further.

But for now, closer to home than Washington, D.C. the role of the county commissioners in formulating the coming year’s budget is proving to be the most difficult ever.

As the commissioners have started their process, the staff of the county commissioners never quite got the news that revenues were dropping, in fact, plummeting into the county’s basement.

As a result, the staff has recommended spending increases to the commissioners in ways that completely belie the fiscal status of the taxpayers, the county, the state and the nation.

If one believed that St. Mary’s County was the Mother County of Maryland, one of 23 such counties, the reality of this year’s budget process shows that the county is instead located in the State of Denial.
The $194,207564 general fund budget shows not a decrease in spending to reflect falling revenues, but a 4.6% increase in spending.
Cost of living increases are being planned for elected officials, which ought to go over like flatulating in church; 14 new county full time positions are planned; cost of living increases for deputies; $1.3 million for the purchase of new vehicles with 23 of them going to the Sheriff’s Department, which gives every single deputy a car to use even off duty with all the gas paid for by the public (while citizens are deferring such purchases, just ask local car dealers and the pain at the pump has never been higher) making for a 12% increase in the Sheriff’s budget.

Included in the new positions in the county staff are one added to the County Attorney’s Office, .5 for Information Technology (where 5 of the staff make over $70,000 per year) 2 for Public Works, 2 for Public Safety and 7 for Human Services.

While the county’s swimming pool is underutilized, the county is picking up 25 percent of the tab of building yet another such pool at the College of Southern Maryland.

The Great Mills Swimming Pool is located adjacent to the Great Mills High School but the bureaucrats of the school system can’t seem to find a way to let any of the students at the school find time for physical education classes at the pool even though the county’s Health Officer and the Surgeon General of the United States decry the obesity crisis among our teenage population.

The fat kids at Great Mills High School would benefit greatly from daily walks across the parking lot and swimming classes at the pool but the most walking most of them do is into the local fast food joints.
Therefore, while a first class million dollar pool goes unused in Great Mills, the county, in the midst of a severe recession, is going ahead with plans to blow $15.6 million as it’s share of a new pool in Leonardtown.

Just to keep our local millionaires able to maintain their lifestyles, the Board is prepared to enact a new $40 per household tax on each home in the county in order to add funds to the Land Preservation Program.  That is the deal where millionaires such as Norton Dodge, John K. Parlett and Sonny Burch, get to have the county paid millions of dollars to them in return for them not turning their front yards into used car lots or trailer parks, not that they weren’t going to do so anyway.  The Rob from the Poor to Give to the Rich Program will cost the taxpayers $3.9 million dollars.  
In addition to spending money on swimming pools, new sheriff’s cars, where the Board last week said that they had to rent out a lot to park the empty patrol cars which now dot the Governmental Center landscape and parking lots; and extra county staff in addition to the hundreds working there now, the public schools may be up to their old tricks of asking for money they don’t need.

Leonardtown Middle School, which looks pretty good to those who go there to vote, is set up for a $2.5 million renovation and Oakville Elementary is scheduled for a $1.4 million heating and air redo.

In addition, the Board will blow $1.39 million on turning the old railroad right of way into a hiking trail instead of letting people hike along existing paths and even around the track at the high school if they simply want to walk.  Maps on how to find the Appalachian trail may be free in bulk from the National Park Service and Congressman Steny Hoyer could likely be asked to get a box of them for the county.  There are numerous gyms in the county which could provide those interested in exercise an opportunity to walk in treadmill machines and give a boost to local small businesses to boot.
$10,000 in the county budget for the River Concert Series is an appalling waste of the taxpayers money as the college continues to operate overseas campuses for forieng citizens and those from the college who want to travel.  All of those folks can pay for their own education and maintaining these types of overseas adventures for the elite of St. Mary’s does nothing but cause tuition to be the highest at St. Mary’s College than that of any Maryland college.

The annual music and concert series at the college is without equal and anyone attending would be glad to pay an admittance fee but to put the burden on the taxpayer, many of whom may prefer country rock band at the Back Road Inn in Compton, should not have the commissioners dip into their wallets and steal from them only to hand the money over to a bunch of elitists at St. Mary’s College.

The St. Mary’s Commissioners are spending $1.6 million to fix up the Patuxent Park neighborhood where the most visible way to improve properties would be for the residents of that neighborhood to have junk cars towed away, clean up the trash and debris in their yards, clip shrubs and paint their homes, but of course that would take a lot of time away from the boob tube.  So for citizens who do maintain their own homes and thus cure blight in their neighborhood, your tax money is going to help those who already find better things to do with their own money.  Given the Boards Reverse Robin Hood Millionaire Land Scheme, perhaps this is fair too.
Asked if he will be the swing vote to maintain the constant yield and thereby negate the 20% increase in property taxes guided by the recent real estate boom which led to higher state assessments, Raley said he was turning in that direction and was open-minded in how to achieve that goal. He said that at this past week’s meeting, staff was astounded to here him express that he was going to find ways to cut the budget to match the reality of the times.
“I am committed to finding ways to lower the tax burden on the citizens of St. Mary’s County,” said Commissioner Dan Raley (D. Great Mills).  “I may not lower them as much as some want, but I will do my best to find ways to reduce spending and cut taxes.”
On the issue of last week’s no-bid Bubba Deal on renting the Bell Motors Garage, Raley said he joined Commissioner Larry Jarboe (R. Golden Beach) in requesting County Administrator John Savich to review the procedures the county used in preparing the lease on the Bell Motors Garage and Used Car Lot in Leonardtown which the county approved last week.

“We should have invited bids from anyone with such facilities and it was wrong to not follow a bidding process,” said Raley.