From the Washington Examiner of June 27, 2010:

“County Executive Ike Leggett has signed off on an arrangement granting municipal employees and police officers 26 hours more in paid leave next year. Firefighters would get an extra 48 hours….

However, some were flabbergasted with the agreement, saying it sends the wrong message to residents — who will pay roughly $250 in new taxes next fiscal year, go without toilets in public parks, and pay to park at certain libraries because of the county’s unprecedented $1 billion shortfall.”

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Adam Pagnucco of MarylandPoliticalWatch.com wrote five very informative articles  (May 24-28, 2010) about the FY2011 county budget:

Part1:  “[B]ecause the county made a political decision to avoid the property tax, it instead chose to rely on a job-killing measure that targets employers to help close its budget gap.”

Part 2:  “The school system fared decently.  It did not suffer nearly as big a cut as most county agencies and its employees will not be subject to furloughs.   It now accounts for 57% of the county’s budget, its highest percentage in recent memory.”

Part 3:  “Most importantly, the six unions could not agree on a common approach to the budget. While the three school unions largely stuck together, the remaining three county government unions (MCGEO, the police and fire fighters) not only went against the schools, they also went against each other.”

Part 4:  “As bad as this budget year was, the county eliminated just 450 positions out of its nearly 30,000-person workforce and only 90 of those positions were occupied.  With labor costs accounting for roughly 80% of the budget, is this enough to achieve long-term balance?”

Part 5:  “Montgomery County has lagged behind Fairfax and much of the rest of the region in population, employment and real wage growth for decades. That hurts the business community by limiting profits. It hurts county employees by limiting the tax base. It hurts the non-profits, the poor and the immigrant community by limiting services. And it hurts the pursuit of smart growth by limiting revenues necessary to build transit projects.”

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…. that if you are a federal employee and are a taxpayer in Montgomery County, you will likely be envious of the health benefits of your counterparts who work for the county and the school system. Here’s why:

Federal employees pay around 30% of their health care premiums; county employees pay from 20 – 24%, school employees pay from 5 – 10%

Federal employees pay a hospital admission fee, deductibles, a percentage of diagnostic tests costs and surgical fees; county and school employees pay no hospital admission fee, no deductibles, no diagnostic testing costs and no surgical fees.

Federal employees pay $65 for a 90-day supply of name brand medications; county and school employees pay from $5- $10 for name brand medications ordered through the mail

Federal employees have 2 classes of health care premiums (self and family); county and school employees have 3 classes of health care premiums (Self, self+1, and family)

Federal part-time employees and county part-time employees pay a higher percentage of their health care premiums than full-time employees, school part-time employees pay the same percentage as full-time employees

FINALLY, under the new health care bill federal health care plans will not qualify for the “Cadillac Tax” but health care plans for county and school employees will!

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From the Washington Examiner of June 6, 2010:

“Salaries doubled for most Montgomery County workers between 1999 and 2009, while inflation rose 37 percent…. Montgomery County Public Schools’ tax-supported operating budget has grown by more than 75 percent in the past decade, far surpassing other county agencies.   Teachers enjoy salaries 20 percent higher than their Fairfax peers.”

Read the full story.

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The president of the Montgomery County Taxpayers League, Joan Fidler, was quoted in a June 2, 2010, article in the Montgomery Gazette:

“Joan Fidler, president of the nonpartisan Montgomery County Taxpayers League, said the council made many “courageous” decisions, like eliminating pay raises for employees, supporting furloughs for teachers, keeping the property tax rate the same and eliminating so-called ‘ghost COLAs’ that provide employee pension benefits based on raises they never received.

“Less courageous were the council’s decisions to establish an ambulance fee, increase energy taxes and raise the cell phone tax — all of which shift the burden of balancing the budget to the taxpayer, Fidler said.”

Read the complete article at The Gazette.

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