Maryland Gov. Martin O’Malley can’t seem to balance a budget. Wicomico County Executive Rick Pollitt can’t seem to either. The other night Pollitt appeared on Phil Tilghman’s PAC-14 show and argued (AGAIN) that we need a “grassroots movement” to end the dreadful revenue cap.
As someone opposed to the cap on principle I’m willing to listen to such arguments. However, I find it very difficult to take people like Pollitt seriously when local officials are hell bent on giving Wicomico taxpayers back door tax increases while the cap is in place. If anything, such behavior is evidence that the cap should NEVER be repealed.
What am I talking about? I’m referring to the recent acquisition of the Powerwave property east of Salisbury by the Tri-County Council of the Lower Eastern Shore. While O’Malley claims the state is broke, Maryland bureaucrats are able to hand out multi-million dollar grants to take property OFF of the county tax rolls.
When Pollitt and his cohorts on the Wicomico County Council whine about the revenue cap you need to ask yourself how much more money the county would have to spend (some may say “waste”) if they didn’t support taking taxable land off of the tax rolls.
22 comments:
I agree, just look at the thousands of acres of land purchased by the state just this year in the name of "protecting it". Every purchase made for this purpose is money that is taken out of the county coffers.
Excellent post GA,
There is a grassroots movement growing alright Rick.
It's a grassroots movement to KEEP the revenue cap!
There is another grassroots movement growing to remove Pollitt and his council from their seats. They need to go.
Another clueless Democrat.
Remove the cap so the fatback is protected? The County needs a true leader. One who takes the time to go into the trenches, relates to the citizens and the employees, and allows the employees who see and know the waste the control to make suggestions and give support to make change.
Leadership-Put simply, the leader is the inspiration and director of the action. He or she is the person in the group that possesses the combination of personality and skills that makes others want to follow his or her direction.
Right now, this does not exist. The count down has begun. Its time to get out the frying pan and melt the fatback.
I don't understand why Wicomico County and Salisbury income taxes are some of the highest in the country but they cry that it's still not enough.
So let's say that a private investor buys that building, and then rents it out to TCC. Obviously, the investor is going to charge TCC more than enough in rent to cover the subsequent property and income taxes that the transaction generates. They are probably going to charge above and beyond the typical maintenance costs of the building, too. All of this in order to generate an acceptable return on investment for his resources.
Put another way, TCC would end up paying for private profits AND the related taxes each and every year. And don't forget the inevitable rent increases of 2% or more.
I have a feeling that the purchase of this building at a fair market value would likely result in lower operating costs to be covered by the taxpayer.
The big issue is that in this instance, the local tax money is forever lost, and redistributed to the entire state. But on the other hand, how many state agency buildings are located in Annapolis and Baltimore? I bet in the scheme of things we're probably better off than most localities because we're so far away from the center of power.
As much as I hate big government, unless TCC is going away I've got to think that this is a smarter way to go. If you can show using math how your logic is right, I'd sure love to agree with you.
Keep the cap. Get rid of Little Ricky.
Back Door Taxes have been imposed on the people of this County & they will continue to find more they can tax us on so THEY CAN SPEND! Really, this has got to stop ----- Mr Pollitt is an exceptionally nice man----his created job is uncalled for & a waste of our taxes. I , for one hope the Revenue Tax is never lifted! This County is in a state of ruin!!! All these people need to be gotton out of office. Debbie Campbell ----- How about running for office?
Good article G.A. and 10:55 I agree completely.
Pollitt, McCain must go....When the election.
There are two issues here.The first is that the revenue cap ,as constructed, is fundamentally flawed because the 2% limit does not and will not align with the true increase in county costs no matter how well resources are managed.While I am not convinced that County government is as efficient as it could be I am convinced that ,even under the best of circumstances,we are now facing year after year of structural deficits. The cap should be remain in place but be modified so as to be tied to some reasonable inflation index.
But you will not see any significant grassroots movement to remove or modify the cap until the average taxpayer is convinced that county government is truly effective and truly competent....that is what I had hoped Executive Pollitt meant when he promised to restore confidence in government.
These deficits were to be expected under any reasonable set of assumptions when Pollitt took office.The administration should have,when first elected, immediately undertaken a very public and transparent vetting process wherein taxpayers could make value judgements regarding the quality ,efficiency ,necessity and cost of all county services.
Absent such a process the underlying distrust will continue.
Considering taxes rates in the County have gone down 8 straight years, I don't think you have anything to worry about G.A. Harrison. This post is overblown malarkey.
If there was a tax rate cap (which the revenue cap was originally sold as), you wouldn't see your rates budge next year. But you wouldn't see them go down 8 years in a row either. You would have a stable rate and higher and more predictable tax revenue. Your arguement for keeping the revenue cap as a way to eliminate back door tax increases proves you don't understand how the cap works.
If Pollitt cannot get his job done per the bosses'---- the people --- he needs to move on. The people voted for this, Mr. Pollitt, then make it work.
Also, what does the tri-county council do? Could the county get by without them? -- I think so.
We may have just figured out how to help balance our budget.
11:44...because property taxes,not income taxes,are the primary source of revenue for local government.
A review of Wicomico county's revenue over the last eight years will show an average increase of close to six percent annually. This amount has exceeded the CPI and increased population growth for the same period.
Are we saying the current administration is not sufficeiently competent to operate the County with such healthy revenue increases, and plan for downturns in the economy? Or, are we saying the revenue increases were inadequate? As for myself, I believe the former and not the latter.
I heard that Rick and McCain were lobbying for the demise of the cap at the chamber's event this morning. They just don't get it. You don't mislead the people like McCain did during the zoning fight and expect them to trust him on this issue. Forget getting rid of the cap. You need to start making changes in the way the county does business. Until that is done, the cap will remain. PERIOD!
Well said 2:19. It's time for a change if Pollitt can't do the job, I'm sure someone else could. I'd have liked a 6% increase each year over the last 6yrs.
2:19....at 6 % annual revenue increase the county should have been able to keep pace....but are you including the one time "windfalls" the county was receiving from the state?...I think those masked the underlying problem and shame on our elected leaders for assuming,foolishly,that those windfalls would continue....gets back to competence.
Let's be honest: Rick Pollitt only ran for his position to further his political career and for the huge salary. If he was so concerned about the residents of this county, he would think twice about this proposal. County residents are smarter than that and I believe he will see that at the polls in 2010. I hope a competent Republican decides to challenge Rick. The county desparately needs a change of leadership for the benefit of county residents - not one's own political ambitions. Yes, he may be a "nice guy" but that doesn't get the job done, does it?
Mr. Harrison:
FYI:
Fruitlanders don't want Pollitt back as City Manager. Barrie Tilghman would be preferable.
FIRE THE LOT OF EM!
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