Republicans In The News
Tom Morgan - Candidate for Delegate in 5B - voices concern as Baltimore County Council looks to increase Property Tax
For Immediate Release April 28, 2010
Contact: Tom Morgan PoliFiLogic.com
It’s Him Again
I shouldn’t pick on the same person from one article to another, but he deserves it. The "he" I’m referring to is Kevin Kamenetz; a member of the Baltimore County Council and candidate for Baltimore County Executive. If he has a family, I’m sure his kids love him, but I hope he doesn’t run his family finances the way he views government finance.
Last evening I attended a hearing of the Baltimore County Council to comment on a property tax increase being imposed on the good citizens of the county. Baltimore County law requires the use of what’s known as "constant yield" when calculating property tax rates. In a nutshell, it means that the property tax rate is supposed to be adjusted either up or down as assessed values fluctuate so that taxes remain constant. In other words, when assessments increase, the property tax rate is supposed to decrease. But, there’s a loophole. If the county wants to change the rate or keep it constant so that property taxes increase, all they have to do is publish a notice of such and give citizens an opportunity to testify.
As you know, property values in Baltimore County have fallen along with the rest of the world. But, there’s a lag between actual values and assessed values, because of a timing issue. This year, while real values fell, assessed values increased. The county is short about $155 million this year, so it decided to keep the property tax rate constant, rather than decreasing it as the law provides. This will result in a $25million property tax increase. A notice was published about a hearing. I went to testify (I do these things now that I’m an activist candidate).
There’s another background item I need to mention. Back in the nineties, Baltimore County formed something called the Spending Affordability Committee (SAC) with the task of limiting spending and debt to no more than the growth of county’s economy in the previous year. This worked pretty well until 2009 when spending should have fallen based on an economic decline in 2008. Under these conditions, the SAC should have cut the budget. But, along came Mr. Kamenetz, the spending-addicted Chairman of the SAC. He came up with a way to keep on spending. He changed the SAC’s formula from year to year economic change to the five year average of change. With this, the council was able to spend based on four growth years and only one down year. The result is a budget deficit of $155 million dollars.
Ann Miller, the President of the Reagan Republican Club testified right before me. Ann is a very savvy lady who writes for the Baltimore County Examiner. You can read her article about the meeting here.
Ann covered a number of things including the Spending Affordability Committee. Before concluding, she mentioned Kamenetz’s little trick and the damage it caused. Kamenetz took exception to this and admonished Ann by stating that (because of his cleverness) Baltimore County is doing well and is the only county in the state that didn’t have to furlough workers; all without raising the tax rate. Of course, he failed to mention that the county is in the red to the tune of $155 million because of his little trick.
Ann tried to respond but was stopped by the Council Chairman. So, there we were with Councilman Kamenetz getting the last word – a half truth that insulted the intelligence of everyone present.
I was next. After identifying myself I turned to Councilman Kamenetz and asked "If everything in Baltimore County is so fine, why am I here objecting to a $25 million tax increase?" I don’t like people who speak in half truths, especially when they insult my intelligence. Enough said.
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