(6/2022) Responsible budgeting should start with looking at the real needs of the county and working to meet those needs. What Frederick County Government has done over the last four years instead is review how much revenue is coming in (taxes and fees) and spend every dime of that revenue. When revenues come in higher than expected, (which they have each year of the four year term), the County Executive proposes to spend that money as well, rather than give it back to taxpayers as an overpayment.
Every year on the Council I have tried to reduce the rate of growth of government and return some of Frederick County's financial success to the taxpayers. I thought the rate of growth last year was very high as the budget grew at over 8%. This year I had sticker shock when I saw that the budget grew at 10.2%. Last year I was concerned about adding 68 new county positions. Well this year, we added a whopping 163 positions. In my 4 years on the Council the budget grew from roughly $600 million per year to $800 million per year, a staggering 31% increase in spending.
It took Frederick County almost 250 years to reach a spending level of $200 million (the total budget in 1999 was $199 million). It took us only 4 years to add that much spending to reach the budget level of $800 million. I don't need to explain further that this rate of growth is not only unprecedented, it is unsustainable.
There is confusion about the property tax rate. Property values have been skyrocketing across the county - therefore, unless the Council takes action to adjust the property rate downward, property owners will be paying significantly more property taxes in the coming years. My main concern is that the citizens who are responsible for our budget surplus, have not seen any tax relief. The average taxpayer is continuing to pay more for the same services that they are receiving, and has not had any relief in the form of tax reductions or rebates from the surpluses that they have generated for the county. The County budget has increased by $145 million in the last two years alone; lowering the tax rate by adopting the constant yield would have slowed that increase in spending to about $125 million and all property owners would have benefited.
The budget and the tax rate passed by a vote of 4-2-1 with Councilmember McKay and myself voting against. It remains my hope that we will be able to grant some type of general tax relief to everyone in the county that works or pays property taxes.
