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Stirred-up crowd tells government to lower property rate
Friday, April 24, 2009
 Click here to enlarge this photo Staff photo by REID SILVERMAN
Leonardtown Middle School math teachers Richard Condle and Cheryl Corwin huddle under an umbrella Tuesday evening as a thunderstorm approaches Chopticon High School. The teachers association held a rally in front of the school before the public hearing on the county budget.
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A small but boisterous crowd called on the St. Mary's County commissioners Tuesday night to lower the property tax rate at a public hearing on the 2010 recommended budget.
Some carried signs into the meeting after a small rally held in front of Chopticon High School featuring Commissioner Larry Jarboe (R) and Del. Anthony J. O'Donnell (R-Calvert, St. Mary's).
The $200 million recommended county budget keeps the property tax rate at 85.7 cents per $100 of assessed value. The constant yield rate calculates the rate needed to bring in the same amount of revenue as the year before in the face of rising assessments. That rate would be 79.8 cents, and would result in a loss of $6 million in revenues. Property taxes are scheduled to bring in $93 million.
Jarboe has been advocating for cutting the tax rate at the commissioner table.
At the hearing, no one specifically recommended where the $6 million in cuts would come from.
The average savings per St. Mary's property owner would be $156, county finance calculated, if the constant yield rate were used.
Cindy Jones of Valley Lee said, "Government is inherently not very efficient," and said of the $6 million in reductions, "there are plenty of places where fat can be trimmed."
Glenn Weder of Hollywood also suggested using the constant yield or a compromise rate. He stunned the crowd when he said he was looking forward to seeing the commissioners, except for Jarboe, in the obituary pages of The Enterprise.
"Let's stay polite, please," said County Administrator John Savich, who served as moderator at the hearing.
"I thought that statement was pretty harsh," said Raymond Norris of Hollywood, though he did say he was pleased Commissioners Thomas A. Mattingly Sr. (D) and Daniel H. Raley (D) were leaving office (after three consecutive terms) in 2010 because they haven't been good to taxpayers. "Our property taxes have gone wild," he said.
Mike Hewitt, who ran for president of the county commissioners in 2006, said he supported the constant yield rate and called the county's budget figures "disingenuous, they're crafty, they're sneaky." Revenues over the years have been underestimated by $40 million, he said. He also cited the county's recent purchase of 172 acres in Leonardtown for $5.3 million. Two appraisals earlier set the land's value at between $3.6 million and $4 million.
Elfreda Mathis, who also ran for county commissioner in 2006, asked the audience where the $6 million in cuts would come from. She turned to the listeners behind her and said, "What would you, and you, and you, and you cut from the plan?"
Some of the signs in the audience read, "Stop the spending," and "Hit the road Jack." The president of the commissioners is Francis Jack Russell.
Another sign read, "Berlage Go Home." Derick Berlage is the new director of St. Mary's department of land use and growth management. He started the job on April 15 and Jarboe voted against his contract.
Raley said Wednesday, "The man's been hired. I think you've got to give him a chance."
Jarboe said Thursday, "That was not a sign in any way that I was supportive of," but the general public has been telling him they don't approve of his hiring.
School Superintendent Michael Martirano, backed by four members of the school board, said he recognizes the tough fiscal climate the commissioners are dealing with and the "biggest challenge we have now is not to backslide." With dozens of members from the Education Association of St. Mary's in attendance, he added, "It's going to cost money to have a high-quality school system."
Supporters of the library system asked for support to build a new building for the Leonardtown branch. Anne Saunders, a disabled patron of the library, said, "All this venom just makes me very sad." She attempted to read a statement in support of a new library, but started crying and asked, "Can someone read it for me?"
Marguerite Morris, founder of the Leah's House shelter for women and children, asked for financial support equal to that of another program in St. Mary's. The county's recommended operating budget for next year includes $130,000 for Three Oaks Center in Lexington Park.
"It's not about a shelter war," she said. "We're asking for equal opportunity."
She asked why this other shelter, which she did not name in her comments, gets more funding. "Is it because the color of my skin … are the homeless that come through our doors less needy?"
