By Adam Pagnucco.
Below are the top ten stories on Montgomery Perspective in March 2025, ranked by page views.
1. PTA President: “Every Single Staff Member and Student is Breathing in Mold”
2. County Survey: Resident Perception of MoCo Declines
3. MCPS Responds to Mold Testimony
5. Kennedy PTSA President Responds to MCPS
8. Trump is Holding a Fire Sale in Maryland
9. Jawando to Developers: Don’t Come Here
10. Has MCPS Pulled Back on Security at Kennedy HS?
There are few surprises on this list. Problems at MCPS are reliable generators of page views. Trump is on the minds of county leaders and residents alike. And I bet most of MoCo’s real estate community saw Council Member Will Jawando’s inhospitable message to developers (not to mention the financial community that invests with them).
But the single most meaningful bit of information may have been this finding from the county’s resident survey shown below.
Just 11% of respondents say they are willing to pay more taxes to get more services. 42% feel they pay too much for the services they receive. And 7% even said that they would accept service reductions in exchange for lower taxes.
That’s not from a poll by developers or Republicans. That’s from a survey commissioned by the county government. And that also comes before residents feel the impact of the state’s coming tax hikes.
County council members should think about that before they consider the property tax increase and the gigantic fee hike in County Executive Marc Elrich’s recommended FY26 operating budget.
On to April!