Montgomery County Council members formally approved a $4.3 billion budget Thursday that increases property taxes for most homeowners, but leaves union contracts untouched as the county prepares for a bleak fiscal year.
Throughout budget debates, union members regularly filled auditoriums to capacity to cheer council members who promised to protect raises of 8 percent for most county workers and jeer those who suggested cutting employment costs. While workers said they were grateful their raises were intact this year, they said they expected similar battles next year.
“We hear what they’re saying in there,” corrections officer Michael Crockett said. “I am worried about next year. A lot of county workers are fearful for the future.”
Council Vice President Phil Andrews, a frequent voice for reining in the county’s labor costs, was joined this year by Council Member Duchy Trachtenberg, who heads the council’s Management and Fiscal Policy Committee, and shared concerns about increasing taxes and cutting services for residents while funding big raises.
Council Member Roger Berliner opposed a proposal early last week from Andrews and Trachtenberg to cut $40 million in employment costs, but by week’s end was calling for some form of concessions from workers.
“In this economic climate where we are asking burdened taxpayers to pay an average of 13 percent higher property taxes, it would have been nice to have a sense of shared sacrifice,” Berliner said.
Even Council Member Valerie Ervin, a former labor organizer who soundly rejected any suggestion to “balance the budget on the backs of county workers,” seemed frustrated with the process, in which council members are not involved until the end.
“I would ask County Executive Ike Leggett why he signed the contracts if he knew there was a $400 million budget gap last fall,” Ervin told The Examiner.
Leggett said it’s not that simple: Contracts with police, fire and government workers can all go to binding arbitration in which county and labor leaders each submit one proposal and a third-party mediator settles the contract.
“Those arbitrators look at prevailing rates and precedents that have been established in a county,” Leggett said. “The council and prior county executives have given fairly good and significant raises, and in essence forced the hand of the county executive by their dealing with prior union contracts.”
