By Adam Pagnucco.
Here is today’s question. Note: I asked this question of the candidates before the county council approved its budget.
Do you support County Executive Marc Elrich’s recommendation to increase property and income taxes and to establish special taxing districts? If not, how would you change Elrich’s recommended budget to balance revenues and expenditures?
Mithun Banerjee (D)
On April 29, Banerjee requested more time to respond due to medical reasons. At that time, he told me, “I was sick & still I am sick. I will try my level best to send them to you at the earliest.”
Andrew Friedson (D)
No. You can’t make Montgomery County more affordable by making it more expensive to live here. I’ve consistently voted against tax increases – when the County Executive proposed increasing property tax rates in the early days of the pandemic in 2020, and again in 2023 and 2025, as well as last year’s proposed retroactive income tax hike. I would balance the budget by performing the government restructuring that was promised but never delivered, eliminating underperforming programs, consolidating redundant department functions, and doubling down on what actually is working. Over the last eight years, our budget grew three times faster than our economy; it is time to manage what we have more effectively before asking residents for more. Our future is brighter when we keep affordability for our families at the forefront of our decisions: by reducing the cost of living here, expanding economic growth and private sector investment to fund our priorities, and being more effective and efficient with the tax dollars we receive.
Evan Glass (D)
I don’t support the County Executive’s property tax increase. I have been opposed to this budget proposal since it was introduced for one simple reason: enough is enough. We can’t tax our way out of our financial difficulties, especially when thousands of our neighbors are still reeling from DOGE cuts to the federal workforce, housing costs are squeezing working families, and our local economy continues to underperform.
During my time as Council President, I reduced the County Executive’s proposed tax increase by more than half by finding efficiencies and cutting expenditures. Every member of the Council supported record level funding for MCPS, our labor contracts, and our social safety net. But not every Councilmember wanted to actually pay for those commitments. It was a difficult task, but a majority of my colleagues engaged in it honestly and we got it done.
As County Executive, I will not send the Council unbalanced wish-list budgets year after year. I will grow our budget at responsible, manageable rates that protect our social safety net and our schools. At the same time, I will review the outcomes of every program to ensure it is fulfilling its goals, and pivot when it is not.
Peter James (D)
NO. As Mark Cuban says, sales solves everything. The county sells, alcohol at a loss, airport and greens fees that break even.
By replacing Oracle and other Olagrachs’ software, that spies on us and our children, online Citizen government control panels and autonomous guideway transportation systems, I will turn MoCo into the best place to live in the world.
The sale of these technologies to other jurisdictions will generate tens of billions of dollars a year in non-tax revenues. Visit peter4moco.com for details.
If you live in Qatar your don’t pay taxes and you get free health care. Instead of Oil and Gas revenues, I will harvest our County’s natural resources, software developers and engineers laid off by Trump.
Not only will I eliminate the need for any taxes, I will eliminate the County’s $6.5B debt and the $400M+ interest payments.
I am the only candidate that has developed software to performed forensic accounting audits for big 8 accounting firms to audit large corporations. I’ll save billions in waste, corruption and inefficiencies.
I have developed and enhanced (personally and ran teams) accounting, manufacturing, process control, logistics and a wide array of systems for corporations, governments and non-profits.
Will Jawando (D)
Did not answer the questionnaire.
Shelly Skolnick (R)
Did not answer the questionnaire.
Esther Wells (R)
I do not support Marc Elrich’s recommendation to increase property and income taxes or establish special taxing districts. As County Executive, I will balance the budget through aggressive fiscal discipline, replacing tax hikes with government accountability.
My Efficiency Plan:
Automation & Redundancies: I will eliminate funded vacant positions outside public safety and automate high-volume services within MC311, DHHS, MCDOT traffic systems, and HR onboarding.
Budget Correction: I will close the structural deficit by sun-setting temporary COVID-era programs and offering Voluntary Separation Incentive Payments (VSIP), similar to the state’s 2025 program, to downsize departments being restructured or automated.
Strategic Reallocation: I will repurpose DHCA rent stabilization staff to programs that prevent evictions, ensure sanitary housing, and expedite licensing.
Education: I will fund MCPS at Maintenance of Effort, with additional funds tied to outcomes, and limit union wage adjustment to COLA until we make significant improvements in closing the achievement gap for black and brown students, special education students, low-income students.
Rigorous Oversight: DHHS manages 488 non-profit contracts; I will benchmark these against industry standards to ensure every dollar reaches its intended purpose.
A forensic audit of all procurement and grants will root out waste. Montgomery County deserves results, not tax hikes.