By Adam Pagnucco.
Earlier today, the county council tentatively voted against County Executive Marc Elrich’s 6.3 cent property tax increase, which would have raised $165 million. Every member voted against the increase except for Council Member Kristin Mink, who abstained. Council Member Laurie-Anne Sayles voted virtually while attending an out-of-town conference. (At the meeting’s start, Council President Natali Fani-Gonzalez announced that Sayles would be at the conference all week while the council did its budget work.)
Here is how Mink explained her vote to abstain.
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Council Member Kristin Mink.
I wanted to share that I’m going to be abstaining from the vote today. That is because while I think that most or all of us have publicly agreed that the county executive’s proposal is not feasible for our residents, I also have concerns that we’re going to arrive at the end of this week and face cuts to MCPS and county services that are untenable. There are paths forward. But given where we are right now, while it would be easiest for me to just raise my hand and my inbox would probably appreciate it, especially given that this is only a straw vote, I am not comfortable indicating that I’m in a place to make even a tentative decision today given the state of the many critical variables at play. So I very much appreciate the work of colleagues and of the committee but that’s where I am personally right now.