On Tuesday evening, the Wicomico County Council will hold a public hearing on County Executive Rick Pollitt’s proposed amendment to the FY2010 budget. We are being told that this budget amendment is designed to cut spending. That’s what we are being TOLD.
In reality, Pollitt’s proposal is designed to bring about a PERFECT STORM that is designed to end Wicomico County’s revenue cap and would result in higher taxes for all property owners. Only you can stop it.
Pollitt’s proposal will strip the county of all contingency and reserve funds that are not already committed. Pollitt has already admitted that next year’s budget situation is expected to be WORSE than this year’s. By stripping the county of it’s contingency funds (and even borrowing from an enterprise fund), Pollitt puts voters in a position where they face a drastic reduction in services all at one time. Pollitt then hopes that a majority of county voters will then be willing to lift the revenue cap. The obvious result of this is HIGHER TAXES.
26 comments:
Quoting Ted Shea -- "we gotta make them feel the pain"!
Rick:
It's now time to remove Fineran (your reelection campaign manager) from the County payroll.
Sincerely,
Wicomico Taxpayers
9:25 anon not only that but he is leading us to the same path he took with Fruitland. Developers Poor House.After this round maybe we all need to look for removal of him and all those positions created when he got elected.
9:33 name three candidates - Republican or Democrat -that would be able to govern Wicomico County to the degree of competence that meets your approval.
Rick governs by Poltical correctness and he knows this is against all common sense and the Tax payers. He needs to run his personnal finances the same to prove this is the right path to go. We will never see that happen because he would have to sell his property in Ocean City and all his other assets that was handed down to him. For him to govern in this manner has to make people rollover in their graves because he was not raised in this manner of screwing over people. Let him finish destroying this County which used to be the pride of the lower shore.
Sorry Rick but we don't want you back in Fruitland after you are replaced next year.
9:25, I have lived in Fruitland for 20 years and I am not poor because I live with in my means. Do not buy a $4ooK house that ain't worth 200K and then blame Fruitland!
Reposted!
How about John Cannon as the next Wic. County Exec.?
I was happy to see him leave Fruitland and really hoped he wouldn't be elected into this position.
anon 11:04
Cannon for County Exec.?
This must have been a joke, he is nothing more than Rick's lapdog wait and see how he supports this voodo budget. Guess who he would hire to replace Shea.It would be Pollitt.
The only citizens that will vote to repeal the Revenue Cap will be County Employees, Teachers, Deputies, Roads etc.. The rest of the County Taxpayers will vote for the Revenue Cap as we did in the past.
Mr. Harrison:
I'm surprised at the ignorance expressed by you in your post. It is posts like yours and comments from the public that cause me to shake my head and relize how stupid the American public has become.
Do you think this situation Wicomico County finds itself in would have been any different if Ron Alessi or Charles Jannace, or even Jesus Christ had of won the 2006 County Executive election? Would the State of Maryland or Wicomico County be rolling in money if Alessi, Jannace, or Jesus won? Those three, including Jesus, are right now thanking God they didn't win the 2006 Wicomico County Executive vote.
Rick Pollitt needs to cut $6.7M in expenses/services from the current budget. Mr. Alessi, Mr. Jannace and Jesus Christ would be in no different situation.
You mention that Mr. Pollitt, stripping the county of it's contingency funds puts voters in a position where they face a drastic reduction in service. NO KIDDING. In reality, Pollitt is only reduced services by $3.7M in spending and is using the other funding source to pay the expenses of the remainin $3.0M. I agree with Stevie Prettyman that Mr. Pollitt should not balance the budget by borrowing from contingency funds, but cut a full amount of $6.7M in county provided services.
I believe Mr. Pollitt is right that 2010 is going to be worse than 2009. But I also believe Mr. Pollitt is wrong in believing the economy will begin to recover in 2010/2011. Some economic analyists are claiming the economy will not recover until 2019. God help us if that is true.
I bet Mr. Allessi, Mr. Jannace and Jesus are thanking God they didn't win the 2006 Wicomico County Executive election.
What does he care?He is doing well and thats all he cares about.He sure aint missing no meals.
Rick Pollitt isn't the cause for the problems that exist presently for Wicomico County. But Mr. Pollitt hasn't responded to them in a proactive fashion. A year or more ago, this present situation was on the radar and Mr. Pollitt chose to ignore it and state that Wicomico's financial situation was positive. All the signs were there that we would have deficits in budget areas. The state legislators were crying at the time but Mr. Pollitt didn't heed their warning. So now, real cuts need to be made.... not spending the reserves and he isn't willing to do that. What happens if this recession continues for 3 to 4 more years??? We need someone who is willing to make the cuts necessary for this budget and for the next several to put us on firm footing again.
Quote from a Wicomico County Director...."They want to pay for third rate services then let them get third rate services".
I say end the cap. It was the dumbest thing ever done. It is stifling the growth of Wicomico County, and stagnating things. This place will die with it left in place.
To 2:30 -- how is the revenue cap "stifling" the growth of the county? It's strange to think the county needs more government spending to thrive. Growth comes from the private sector, not the government.
County government revenue has increased since the cap has been in place. Unfortunately, the revenue cap only affects part of government revenue.
They should have put a spending cap in place instead of the revenue cap, though. If spending had been controlled over the past few years we wouldn't be facing this position today.
Someone please tell me what the cost of county government as a percentage of average per capita income today is compared to 20 or 30 years ago.
I think you will find that the county governemnt keeps getting bigger and bigger and more and more inefficiant and wastefull. The cap on taxes was justified and neccessary to put a fence around these career non productive bunch, that legaly steals from the citizens.
The government is not the answer, the government is the problem.
It is no surprise that those who enrich themselves off of the backs of the tax payers keep wanting to grow their business
This will be another Slick Trick By Rick event, with much wailing and teeth-nashing over having to cut the budget and lay off persons.
Mr. Pollitt:
let's cut PAC 14 -- permanently -- even though your pals Pretl and Prince Philip Tilghman won't like that.
go ahead Rick...we will see you in the unemployment line and others that follpw your path will be put. there too. I cant wait till elecdtion day just to get your sorry behind out of that office.
well said Marc & 3:50 pm
outside the sherrif's dept. there are no county services, imo...so ga'head, take 'em all...
outside the sherrif's dept. there are no county services, imo...so ga'head, take 'em all...
easton hasn't died. talbot cty has a cap... be smart, cut spending. that's where the problem has always been.
Anon 1239 -
While your comment really isn't worth a response, I am going to attempt one anyway. Why isn't your comment worthy of response? It is obvious that you cannot read or grasp complex concepts. This may be because you are a product of the Wicomico County school system.
Regardless, here goes.
I would start by reading the comment by Anon 1324 (1:24 PM). He explains some of the issues you brought up.
I never stated that Ron Alessi or anyone else (other than our Lord)wouldn't find Wicomico County in a different REVENUE situation. As I noted, we have the revenue cap. It is what it is.
However, your friend Rick Pollitt has had numerous opportunities to restructure the county government during his first three years in office and has refused to do so.
Now we are in a position where services will have to be cut. Simply nibbling around the edges is not a wise approach. Stripping the county's reserve and contingency funds is fiscally dangerous. However, that appears to be what Mr. Pollitt wants.
Whether the economy recovers next year or five years from now, without making hard decisions NOW, the cap will have to be repealed and taxes will have to go up.
As I stated, if you want to pay higher taxes then simply say so.
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