By Adam Pagnucco.
In the wake of Superintendent Thomas Taylor’s dire warning about the MCPS budget, one council member rose up with a plan to save the school district: Kristin Mink. Her plan is tough, risky, definitely aggressive and would be unpalatable to a number of council members. It also might be the last, best chance to get MCPS most of the money it wants.
But it’s probably not going anywhere.
Mink’s budget plan appears in a council staff packet issued yesterday morning. Here is the staff’s description of it.
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Councilmember Mink submitted a revised revenue and spending proposal that includes the following elements:
- Leaves the current ITOC of $692 unchanged;
- Adds a 3-cent property tax increase;
- Revises the progressive income tax structure to raise the tax rate for incomes $300,000 or above to 3.3%, while leaving the rate for income below $300,000 at 3.2%;
- Uses no additional reserves;
- Adds a $28 million draw down from MCPS OPEB funds; and
- Includes $18 million in new base budget cuts, including just over $8 million of those proposed by Council staff, an additional reduction to the Green Bank (retaining $8 million out of $19 million recommended appropriation), and a $2 million increase in lapse across County departments.
Councilmember Mink notes that this proposal is intended to: 1) hold MCPS to a two-tranche cut; 2) fund essential services in County government; 3) fund M-NCPPC; and 4) fund four tranches of nonprofit inflationary increase (4.5% total increase).
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My take on this plan: Like County Executive Marc Elrich, Mink relies on property and income tax increases to fund her budget proposal. But her tax increases are significantly smaller and she would preserve the $692 Income Tax Offset Credit (ITOC) received by homeowners. That’s a big deal as both the realtors and residents of Leisure World (which is in Mink’s district) are pushing back hard against losing that tax credit. She would divert retiree healthcare money again, which is a long-term bond rating negative but is something the county has gotten away with before. Most importantly, she would give MCPS eight of its ten $18 million budget tranches, which MCPS could probably figure out how to live with.
So what happened to this plan?
So far, nothing.
Mink did not make a motion to put this plan on the floor yesterday. Neither did anyone else. My sources told me there was no second for it. Neither did anyone make a motion for the two-cent property tax increase floated by Council Member Kate Stewart.
Fingers are pointing in a lot of directions right now, but many inside the council building are pointing directly at Council Member Will Jawando, who is running for county executive. Early on, Jawando proposed a plan to reduce MCPS’s request by $30 million without a property tax rate increase. That plan was since undercut by an executive branch memo finding that it relied in part on items that violated existing vendor contracts and certain state mandates. He also voted against the council’s homeowner tax increase along with both of his executive rivals on the council (Andrew Friedson and Evan Glass). Mink’s budget plan might be the last best shot at giving MCPS enough money to avoid personnel dislocations. My sources are asking over and over: where was Jawando?
From left: Jawando, MCEA President David Stein and County Executive Marc Elrich at a rally on May 6. Note the signs saying “Fully Fund Our Schools.” Source: MCEA Facebook page.
I will give my sources this: Jawando is MCEA’s endorsee for executive and the picture above shows him agreeing with the union’s goal of fully funding MCPS just last week. If anyone should be backing up Mink, it’s him. However, Mink’s plan includes a property tax increase and Jawando has opposed such a tax hike this year. It’s also relevant that Jawando’s own budget plan would not have fully funded MCPS. So far, MCEA has apparently given him a pass on that, reasoning – perhaps with justification – that he would still be better for them over the long run than Friedson or Glass.
But the truth is that it’s not all about Jawando since no one on the council was willing to second Mink. That’s too bad because it would have been illuminating to see a vote on her proposal. It also suggests that the council’s appetite for new revenue may be limited after they voted 6-5 for a net $102 million tax hike on homeowners. If there really is no more money to be grabbed, MCPS might have to deal with the six $18 million funding tranches that the council has so far set aside for them. If Superintendent Thomas Taylor is to be believed, that will mean adverse personnel adjustments and very angry employee unions.
Looming over all of this is that it will take eight votes to pass this year’s operating budget. Everything is on the table. White knuckles are desperately clutching budget pens all over Rockville. Equally desperate are a growing number of unhappy homeowners bracing for huge increases in their summer property tax bills.
Where will it all end up?