Because they are just so fun!
I don't even know where to start so I'll start at the end.
Once again I took time off of my job, today (Tuesday 9/1) to implore the council to change their meeting times to a more conducive after-hours schedule for working tax paying people and...well, they were unresponsive.
At least 7 others got up to request evening meetings as well. We have a huge gap in the budget of 8 MILLION dollars for FY10 and predictions for FY 11 are far more dismal...and we can't even convince these folks whom we elected to bring these discussions to the tax payers? What hope do we have to influence them on the really important issues like property assessments and tax rate hikes? Service cuts, Revenue Caps, and Speed cameras? All of these items are on the radar, so look out.
Let me be fair, it's not all of them that are unresponsive to this request, but enough of them to keep the status quo. After all, this has been a long standing request from the people of Wicomico County to the council and we are still standing in the same place. As far as I know, Joe Holloway is the only vocal supporter of evening meetings, and I would know.
To top it off; when I finally get out of there, 2 hours later, and I have a $10 meter violation (parking ticket) So in essence; I paid twice to get up to the podium to say my little "two cents". Thanks so much. Perhaps this is a new revenue generator; "come pay $10 bucks to have the county council ignore you." Maybe we can make up the budget that way if they move the meetings to after business hours?
It didn't go so well either. I think I came across angry, while I was probably more nervous than anything. Something about sitting for hours and listening to various agencies complain that they don't have enough money and that we have a budget shortfall of 8 million dollars, while I worried about my meter expiring, and the business I wasn't attending to, got me a little anxious.
Let me back up a bit. The meeting got underway after passing a few resolutions. Then the council voted to approve Resolution 129-2009 Approving the service agreement between Efficient Services from Seaford, DE for cleaning services for about $10,000 plus a month. Stevie Prettyman asked some great questions regarding why there wasn't a local company utilized (in state/in county) and the answers revealed the poor bid process the counties purchasing department embarks on. Basically their own rules prevent them from finding and interacting with the best vendors. None the less, after much questioning the council unanimously voted for the resolution.
There was supposed to be a budget adjustment report by County Executive, Mr. Pollitt, but he was a no show, as apparently he decided to attend a funeral today. However there was a dismal report from Patricia Peterson, Director of Fiance. Specifically; income tax is down significantly and is forecast ed to get worse. Overall the county is in the hole for millions of dollars including the 6 million the state had decided not to fund, mostly because of a bad economy, the housing crash and primarily a Governor that has bankrupted our state. John Cannon requested a meeting with the Department of Finance once a month and a special session was set for September 8th at 10am for the council to approve salary reductions and furloughs for county employees.
My ears started to bleed when the county health agency representative started crying about the budget reductions that had affected her department and all the federal aid for Swine Flu.
Other highlights included strong proponents for the MAPP project, McCain stating he wants to change the terms of the revenue cap. Governor O'Mally's state liasion in attendance, and John Cannon pledging to run the county more like a business.
John, my friend, the first rule of business is to cator to your customers. In this case, we, the tax payer, are your customer.
I noted that on September 15th the Council will hold a public meeting, in the middle of the day, to amend the budget and will be finalized in October, during a meeting scheduled to be held while you're working.
How many days off can you take?
Source.
43 comments:
Joe you are off every day bc you do not have a j-o-b
Of course Joe wants night meetings, so he can sleep in.
Hey RC, tax revenue shortfalls = shrinking budgets, smaller government and less government services. Isn't this the aim of AFP? Maybe the "P" should stand for poorness. You can thank your beloved revenue cap for 8 straight years of revenue loss to the county. You say you want to run the County like a business. If your business lost revenue for 8 straight years, what would YOU do?
9:28
By revenue I assume you mean my money. I think we pay enough already. Start by cutting frivilous government spending.
My daughter and son in law live in Delaware. They have a 3 yr old 3000 sq ft house and pay approx. $1150 a year in taxes. i live in Md in a 30 yr old 1400 sq ft house and pay $1350 in taxes. So why do we not need a revenue cap. If it had not been in place my taxes would probably be 42000. by now.
Conservative chicks are hot!
9:28
Taking away the revenue cap would increase taxes. That would mean less money that business owners could invest.
Larger the taxbase the more income that will come in, couple it with fiscal responsibility as 9:28 stated, and add a hot conservative chick = better things for everyone and more income!!!
9:46, You are complaining about $16.67 dollars a month to live in MD vs. DE? I'm sorry but MD has much more to offer IMO. The reason you pay more is because MD is a better state.
"Larger the taxbase the more income that will come in"
Do you even understand what "cap" means? Our population will grow (if we are lucky) but, adjusted for inflation, we have the same size county gov't as we did in 1950. How can the county protect and provide for a population that keeps growing without the necessary funds. I know, let's keep cutting the Sheriff's DEPT like we did this year.
I've said it once, I'll say it again....
How about you take out the $5,000,000 for the Bennett Middle Construction out of the capital improvement budget and put it off for a couple years-the students will survive and the teachers were the only ones to get raises this year so they should be ok for a year or so too.
Then take out the $4,100,000 for the Civc Center Parking acquistion and development and just allow them to use the Wicomico High School parking lots. I mean really, how long has the Civic Center survived all of these parking issues? A couple years won't hurt them either.
Put the West Side Collector on hold and save another $1.6 million. You could even hold off on the Civic Center Restoration and save $1.3.
Look, I just found $12 Million in the budget! If you look deeper you can find even more! It is not that hard to cut out the frivolous spending-we don't need these things in this kind of economy! We need to survive it as easy as possible, not make it harder so that more jobs are lost, higher taxes are paid and bad spending habits promoted!
In addition, the BOE is one of the biggest spenders in the County! You CAN cut and trim education and still provide a quality education. The BOE's budget was approved AS REQUESTED, which means that I'm sure there are a few things in there that are a bit frivolous-like the "stress management/team building ropes course that the teachers do every year...seems like they are going to be the ones with the least amount of stress because THEY ARE STILL GOING TO HAVE JOBS! All (some might bitch about it) the other departments have displayed the ability to operate on a cut budget, I imagine that the BOE can as well!
Revenue Cap? GET RID OF IT! It was a bad idea from the beginning and it was simply a fix, not a permenant solution. The County obviously needs revenue! The people that bitch about higher property taxes are the same people that bitch about the reduction of services! We are all in this together folks! To put it into perspective, to cover a $10M deficit the County will need to bring in, on average, about $250per year per property in Wicomico County. Some will pay more, some will pay less. That coupled with trimmed budgets and spending will go a long way for the County.
....or we can continue operating at 2010 budget on a 1990 revenue...
9:46, Read 9:46's post closer.
You are only looking at the dollar values.
One has a 3 yr old, 3,000 sq ft house.
The other a 30 yr old, 1,400 sq ft house.
He didn't mention how much land.
What are the appraised values?
It's possible the DE house is worth over 3 times the MD house.
The $16.67/month isn't the point. What does it work out to per $100 of value?
If you compare actual tax bills you will most likely see that **based on value** the Wicomico resident pays 4, 5, 6, ?? times more than the DE resident.
10:17, I would suggest moving to DE. Or better yet, Missippi or Alabama. Your buck will go a long way down there. But remember, you get what you pay for.
Anon 9:46
I am a previous Maryland resident who moved to Delaware quite a few years ago.
Why? TAXES!
Maryland is a double taxation state.
You are quick to point out the difference monthly in the real estate tax bill.
However, that certainly is not the only tax difference between the two states.
My income taxes are considerably less in Delaware. In fact, I work in Maryland so now that Maryland PENALIZES me each year, I only get back $40.00 of what I pay to the state of MD. However, I file my Delaware return and owe NOTHING.
Why? Because I've already paid all the big bucks to Maryland!
Over $400.00 more than I would have had to pay to Delaware if I wasn't working in Maryland (thanks to their so-called penalty).
There are other cost savings as well.
So keep believing that Maryland is such a great state to live in and I will continue to live in DELAWARE.
Some of you people really crack me up!
I have stated this numerous times in the past.
Living in Delmar, DE. on 7.5 acres of land, our taxes are $1,200.00 a year.
It taken me all of 7 to 10 minutes to be in the heart of Downtown Salisbury. There's NO law or rules saying we can't enjoy the FREE Zoo. There's NOTHING holding Delaware residents from visiting or taking advantage of ANY of the resources Maryland, (Wicomico County taxpayers) pay for.
So, that being said, if YOU believe you get what you pay for, you're right. However, we get what YOU pay for too and in return WE allow you to shop in Delaware and get FREE taxes.
Swallow that one for a while.
If we could only get some fiscally responsible people to sit at the Wicomico County Council table, then and only then, will things turn around. All of this spend, spend, spend has got to stop. Do you just keeping spending your own money when things are tight? I don't. I have to cut out what is not necessary and I see a whole lot of things here that are not essential or necessary right at this point in time. Stop spending and start being fiscally responsible for once.
10:34 says: we get what YOU pay for.
Sounds like a good republican patriot, mooch off the hard working folks. Why don't you feel you should have to pay for what you use?
"Stop spending and start being fiscally responsible for once."
Both the State and Wico. have the highest bond rating you can get. There is only one way to achieve this: fiscial responsibility. Only 6 other states in the entire country have a bond rating as high as MD. Your complaints about "responsibility" are not well founded. Maybe you really would just like to see state or county jobs go away? Is that really the issue?
Julie, the City/County should EXEMPT anyone visiting day time Council Meetings from ANY parking meter tickets.
If you want to push another issue, ask the Council to HELP concerned taxpayers from being punished for visiting a meeting YOU pay for anyway.
The reason taxes are lower in Sussex County is that their taxes are based on 1974 market figures. Even new homes are assessed at what they would have been worth in 1974. Sussex County has not had a re-assessment since then. On the other hand, Maryland properties are re-assessed every 3 years and the assessed values are phased-in over the 3 year period.
"the City/County should EXEMPT anyone visiting day time Council Meetings from ANY parking meter tickets."
If they paid the meter, they wouldn't get a ticket. Why does everyone expect everything for free? That's the prolem with America, too much sense of entitlement.
anonymous 11:13, quit being a jerk.
Of course people pay the meters. However, the parking close to the GOB are all 30 minute parking meters, or so. You can only feed so much money into the meter. If you RESAD the article, she was in there for more than 2 hours, hence the ticket. So get a grip, will ya!
I'm bringing my parking ticket to the next meeting!
10:17 & 9:46,
Sussex County also has more than 3 times the properties as Wicomico County and is only 1.5 times as big as Wicomico County. Sussex has a Coastline with properties of higher value-Wicomico has no coastline. Sussex has poorly maintained roadways compared to Wicomico County. Sussex's service quality is much lower than Wicomico. In addition, all real estate in Sussex County is subject to county property taxes, school district property taxes, vocational school district taxes and, if located within an incorporated area, municipal property taxes
Say you live in Delamar (2008-2009) you would pay the following:
Sussex County's Tax rate - $0.3983
School tax rate - $3.150,
City tax rate - $0.40
Library tax rate - $0.0467
Vo-Tech rate - $0.2480
TOTAL TAX RATE/$100 - $4.2430
Right across Line Rd In Delmar, MD (2009-2010)you would pay:
Wicomico County Tax Rate - $0.759
City Tax Rate - $0.693
TOTAL TAX RATE/$100 - $1.452
So for the same house assessed at $100,000, you would pay $4,243 in Sussex County and $1,452 in Wicomico County.
Now you tell me who has cheaper tax RATES?
Go Here
And Here
To see for yourself! The fact is, the RATES are higher and more extensive in Sussex-the only debatable issue is assessment. I could not find information regarding assessment procedures or percentages for either County/municipality.
DE may have lower income tax and no sales tax, but they do get you in other places. Besides, comparing Sussex to Wicomico is not exactly comparing apples to apples...
So we're all in agreement, hot conservative chicks are a good thing at council meetings?
11:27 I don't really care what Delaware is doing.
Wicomico does have waterfront property. I have a $4,200 property tax bill (that I just paid) for a cinderblock shack located on 3 acres on the Wicomico to prove it. That bill went up 40% last year. I tried to contest it with the Wicomico Assessments Office and they basically told me "too bad, the county will get their money one way or another. If it's not raised assessments, it higher rates."
Don't tell me we need to get rid of the revenue cap and doing so wouldn't raise taxes. I happen to know better.
11:18, says: "I'm bringing my parking ticket to the next meeting!"
Why? To prove you are too cheap to pay a meter or too lazy to walk an extra block from the 1hr free lot? If you break the law you pay the price? Do you feel you are above the law?
Joe 73% of the popular vote stated the deputies of this county needed collective bargaining rights. The council thumbed their nose at that. When you tell 73% that you do not give a shit about the publics vote. It speaks volumes as to who and what they are.
I want them them all out. Clean house. It is time. I hear there may be something coming out soon that may open the door to homest policiians that remember who put them where they are today. THE VOTERS. To get a chance at running for office. I know a Franternal Group that is getting ready to go public and support those that support the voters wishes.
This council needs to go from top to bottom.
Don't forget how much you pay in Maryland for your PIGGYBACK tax!
That alone makes the difference in most cases, especially mine.
Double Taxation. You already paid taxes on that money once to the state and then they turn around and get you again at the County level.
If you're going to do a sincere comparison between the two, you have to add in ALL of the information, not just the selected information you chose to include.
All of us do not live inside the incorporated limits of the towns either, so part of your post still is not viable to some.
Just face it, it is cheaper to live in Sussex, DE.
How much difference is there in car registration fees between the two states? No there's one for ya!
Some people don't seem to realize that the revenue cap only affects one source of county revenue -- property taxes. Wicomico County also has an income tax which is one of the highest county income taxes in the state. It rivals Montgomery County. There are also a few other sources of revenue in addition to restricted revenue. Property taxes only account for about half of the county's revenue (at least according to the data up on the county's website, which is a bit outdated -- that really should be addressed).
So anyone who thinks the cap tax is starving our county of revenue simply does not know anything about county revenue.
I think we're getting off the subject here. The point of the commentary is not if we should raise taxes or not it is about being able to have these debates and opinions directly with the council in a face to face exchange and that's difficult to do when they refuse to meet their voters at a meeting that is held at a reasonable time. The way it's set up now, they will decide what's best for us and we won't know what happened until after the fact. I'm not particularly comfortable with that, when the county is essentially bankrupt.
No, 11:56 I was in a council meeting and I did pay the meter. The meeting just happened to run and I wanted to speak to the council. Didn't you read that the council holds the meetings in the middle of the work day when they ticket parking spaces downtown. They don't do that at night.
11:27
What are yoy talking about. These figures must be directly from the Obama school of economics. I stated earlier My daughter live in Delmar, De. , not in town limits. She has a 3 yr old 3000 sq ft, house on 3/4 acre lot. Her total tax bill for the most recent tax year due Sept 09 was approx $1150.
I on the other hand live in Delmar, Md. also not in town limits. I also have a 3/4 acre lot. My house is 30 years old.
I suspect my house would sell for approx $175,000 if sold today. On the other hand her hous when built appraised at around $380,000.
Of her total tax bill $973. was for School tax and $83. was for Sussex Tech. The rest was county tax.
So I don't know where you got you numbers, but they are not even close.
Oh and i made a mistake on her taxes they were actually almost $1200. not $1150 as I said earlier.
Marc, Just an FYI Pat Petersen reported yesterday that the Income Tax Revenue is 2.6 Million short of projections due to high unemployment in Wicomico county, with a 22% decrease in June.
To 12:09 -- yes, the Council "defied" the will of the voters because the deputies drafted an initiative that couldn't go into effect given our county charter. Don't blame the Council because the deputies can't draft a proper initiative. If the deputies had done their homework they would have collective bargaining rights.
Doing a little research on the County's website, it looks like in 2003 the County spent about $98.5 million. This year they are scheduled to spend $129.5 million. That's a 31% increase in spending in six years. So spare me the talk that somehow this County is starved of revenue or that the tax cap means we have experienced a revenue loss. It just ain't so.
Marc wins round 1. Ding ding!
Joe:
Please let us know her name so we can ask her to run for the County Council next year -- to replace Cannon, McCain or MacLeod.
All of you people who are such experts at fiscal policy ought to di us a big favor and run for office......most of you will be the forst ones to whine and bellyache when services are cut.I have never experienced a place where people were such misanthrops
2:51 You're a joke and quite the drama queen. When you loose an argument you start calling people names.
mis·an·thrope - One who hates or mistrusts humankind.
Also the woman was talking about the times of the meetings so you can go and participate for a change.
2:25 I hope she does run for office!
2:51 -- you don't have to be a fiscal expert to look up the County budget on their website. All the people who complain about the revenue cap should do a little bit of research before sitting down to type their comments.
I doubt you'll find many of us who support the tax cap complain about cuts in county services. The county could cut quite a few more services and few people would even notice.
Why in the world are the meters at the GOB only for 30 minutes?Thats fine if you just need to run in and pay a water bill but if you have a meeting to attend it just doesnt give you enough time.
Maryland IS tax hell.I pay a larger percentage in state tax than I do federal and suspect others do too.
gulp.
Marc: I have a copy of the budget and I read through it every year.Can money be saved?...sure.But to the extent that some of these people think,without cutting core services...no.I am a fiscal conservative and I am totally in favor of governmental restraint.But the comments here just go beyond the pale. And the notion that "no one would care" is one that I would love to test.I think you would be surprised at just how many people would care.
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