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I know Bill Duvall ragged on Rick Pollitt this morning about the meeting last night. He sent his COEIU Agent and attorney Bob Taylor to sit in and feed him any and all the information he could.
Nevertheless, Bob conveniently missed mentioning how Rick was seriously, (and in a very classy way) going after Lowell and Page trying to impress upon them that the County isn't going to take it lightly if the Governor tries pulling funds from Wicomico County.
Lowell and Page kept talking about how much money the State actually gives Wicomico County and basically stating how spoiled it is. Rick strongly disagreed and I could go on and on about that jibberish but the reality of it all is, Rick stood firm on protecting Wicomico County.
John Cannon stepped in and stated the Governor clearly said recently at SU that he wasn't going to go after the Counties for the shortfall and he wants to make sure the Governor is a man of his word.
Very Quickly Page, Lowell and Norm stated that the Governor doesn't have to keep his word. HMMMMMM?
Our State Government is going to wait till December to see just how bad the shortfall is because they expect a rise in funds coming in, (BS) and they're hoping everyone won't get hit as bad as it seems.
Lowell was clearly upset with the title of the documents provided stating it was a "DOOMSDAY BUDGET." Lowell also mention the State is averaging less than a 2% increase in salaries each year and Wicomico County is doing far greater than that average. Everyone quickly responded that many of the raises given in Wicomico County were based on C.O.L.A. increases, not pay raises.
It should be noted that growth in Wicomico County has seriously fallen, especially Salisbury. The City's Building Permits are down 2/3 and the County is estimated at least 50% lower. With businesses running out of the County quicker than the County/City can bring them back in, any reduction from the State is going to be devastating. Especially with a 2% County Cap.
Don't think for a minute Rick Pollitt will stand for any reductions without a fight.
Everyone smiled in the end, shook hands and parted their ways. Typical Politicians! LOL
6 comments:
From the Baltimore Sun (Oct. 23):
Legislative leaders in Annapolis said yesterday that they are optimistic that the General Assembly will approve most of Gov. Martin O'Malley's tax package during the special session that will begin Monday.
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Time will tell.
He is a democrat and you can definately expect higher and new taxes that is the nature of the beast .
By the way what happened to the billion doller surplus that the republicans left in the state coffer?
I urge all shoppers to start going out of state for large ticket items, many have been doing it for years. If you live that close to the line buy everything in Delaware. Even if we get slots keep going to Delaware if the GOV doesn't appreciate the hard work it takes now to pay Maryland state and local taxes. Look at the businesses baling out now just from the city tax hike, Maryland is ready for a rude awakening. Boycott any Maryland tax you can.
Doubling the tax on cig's is truely a good reason for quitting, let those new taxes backfire and let O'GOV shove his tax proclamations down his blow hole. One term GOV no doubt. He's just digging his own hole, must have been advised by the Tighlman administration.
I agree. Where did the billion dollar surplus go? It seems to me that there is something fishy if a billion dollars disappeared in less than a year
Anonymous said...
By the way what happened to the billion doller surplus that the republicans left in the state coffer?
Pollitt gets kudos for trying hard, but it won't make much if any difference because most counties and cities are quite flush due to the soaring property tax revenue (because of huge increases in assessed value) in the past several years, They won't admit it, but that's a fact. It's not so in Wicomico because of the tax revenue cap, which has caused the tax rate to go down in order to stay within the revenue limit.
Unfortunately, Wicomico is the "odd man out" and can't expect the General Assembly to cater to it by raising the sales tax, etc.
Salisbury is a basket case, with a climbing tax rate but no tax revenue cap like the County has. Most towns and cities have very little or no tax rate increase and some have even cut the rate.
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