By Adam Pagnucco.
News of County Executive Marc Elrich’s recommended gigantic fee hike is spreading rapidly. The fee increase, related to Elrich’s intention to replace the Dickerson incinerator with a different, still-to-be-determined solid waste facility, would cause the county’s systems benefit charge to rise by 31% for households and more than double for multifamily and commercial properties. That set off one city council member who lit into Elrich at a public meeting.
Neil Harris is a three-term city council member in Gaithersburg. He is a Wharton graduate and has spent more than 30 years in the IT industry, so he is fluent with numbers. At a March 17 city council meeting, Harris unloaded on the “enormous” fee increase, saying it was “very difficult to justify” and that he was “very disappointed with our county exec.” He finished with a resounding “I’m mad as heck!” (Harris is a polite fellow.)
Gaithersburg City Council Member Neil Harris.
I asked Harris to elaborate and he sent me the following statement.
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This year’s Gaithersburg budget, like the previous 10 years’ worth I’ve voted on, contains no increase in our city tax rate. Real estate assessments are going up by an average of 20% countywide, which is enough to pay the bills without having to raise the tax rate, too.
Yet the county exec just proposed another increase in the county’s property tax rate, up 3.5%, on top of the 4.7% rate increase just a couple of years ago. The exec also proposed an enormous increase in the solid waste charge that is buried on our property tax bills, up 31% for residences and 100% for commercial properties. Property tax and income tax revenue to the county increases by 34% over the past 5 years. I’m happy to support our schools and public safety, but there seems to be no fiscal restraint in this proposed budget. We should be able to do better than this.
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Criticisms by municipal officials of county officials are uncommon but so is a fee increase of this size. The county council must ask whether it’s truly necessary as they begin deliberations on the FY26 operating budget.