Montgomery County officials will likely face a new hurdle next time they consider substantially increasing property taxes, as a ballot referendum designed to make it tougher for them to do so appears headed for passage.
“Question B” would require County Council members to unanimously approve raising property taxes beyond the rate of inflation; under current law, only seven of the nine members need approve such an increase.
Supporters of the referendum had a roughly 600-vote edge after Election Day ballots were counted, but that lead widened to 4,154 votes Monday after nearly 33,000 absentee ballots were officially tallied.
Robin Ficker, author of the measure, has lobbied for similar property tax restraints for the past 30 years, but this would be the first win on this topic for him.
He says it was an easy sell because the average homeowner will pay 13 percent more in property taxes this year after Montgomery budget decisions made last spring.
As many as 15,000 absentee and provisional ballots remain to be counted, but Ficker says he’s confident his margin of victory will continue to widen, since those opposed to the referendum would need to capture 2/3 of the outstanding votes to win. Local leaders who fought the referendum say they don’t think it will affect them in the near future. Montgomery County Executive Ike Leggett has already said he would not raise property taxes this year, and council members seem to agree. Some say the measure could backfire, allowing one person to veto a budget approved by the rest of the council if one of their projects doesn’t receive enough funding.
“The whole premise here was to spend less, but ironically people on the council usually hold out to get their issues funded,” Council President Mike Knapp said.
Council Vice President Phil Andrews was one of three council members last spring who voted to kill a budget proposal because they wanted concessions from county employees if residents were going to face large property tax increases. He thinks the measure may not have passed if leaders had supported a smaller tax increase last spring and been more willing to make cuts.
“It’s the balance people think we got wrong,” Andrews said. “People here aren’t simply opposed to taxes, they want a balance between cutting expenses and raising taxes.”
