Two years ago, at the height of the Great Recession, Montgomery County Executive Ike Leggett requested a “temporary” tax hike on energy. He assured County Council members that raising the energy tax already paid by residential customers by a whopping 150 percent (60 percent for commercial enterprises) was absolutely necessary to balance the county’s overextended budget. To make this bitter medicine go down, council members added a sunset provision. The unpopular measure is currently set to expire on June 30th. However, as Washington Examiner reporter Rachel Baye has reported, Leggett now wants to make the energy tax hike permanent. Having proposed the sunset provision to persuade wavering council members in 2010, Leggett has now included an indefinite extension in his $4.6 billion budget for fiscal 2013.

Six county employee unions with pay raises on the table support making this tax a permanent fixture on the county’s balance sheet. Claiming that there’s little “fat” remaining in the budget, Council President Roger Berliner recently told Montgomery Chamber of Commerce officials — who firmly oppose the extension — that council members would have to cut $110 million to keep their word to the public. That should be easy, since Leggett’s 2013 budget also calls for $199 million in new spending.