Fiscal Responsibility and Taxes

The latest news - the County Executive believes there to be a 300 - 400 million dollar deficit, the County only recently learned of the problem, and the only solution to remedy it is to cut services and raise taxes. In the Executive's recent address to a community forum, he suggested the idea of increasing the number of people in the County as a way to solve the problem.

The fact is there is a certain amount of taxes that each of us pays - and a certain cost associated with providing services for each of us. If the County is running at a deficit with the current population, how can we realistically solve the problem by increasing the volume? That's like saying we are selling widgets at a loss, but we can make it up in volume.

There is a better way. On the County Council Steve will work to:

Make the County's financial position publicly available, at all times.

In this way the annual effort to balance the budget will be an ongoing process, one undertaken by County management, just as it is in business.

Illuminate where our tax dollars go, and how they are spent.

Require all accounts payable data for all taxpayer funded expenses to be made publicly available on-line. In this way we will have many more people able to see our County’s problems and in a position to make suggestions on how to solve them.

Hold the line on taxes.

Steve pledges to vote against raising the Charter limits for any reason other than a catastrophic event which results in the cessation of funds from the Federal Government or State Government.

Require all agencies that receive taxpayer funds to be subject to the jurisdiction of the Montgomery County Office of the Inspector General and County Ethics Commission.

Click here to learn more about Steve's position on transparency.

Steve would like to know your thoughts on these issues. Click here to share them with him.

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