| In a rare move, the County Council overrode the recommendation of one of its committees Tuesday, deciding to eliminate 21 positions in the local fire and rescue departments. |
| Volunteer firefighters say the move was political retribution for their successful crusade against the suburb?s ambulance fee, which created a $12.5 million hole in the budget. |
| “This is outrageous, simply outrageous,” said Volunteer Firefighters President Marcine Goodloe. “Where are all the other layoffs? There aren’t any.” |
| She wasn’t alone in her assessment. |
| “There is a notion that this proposal reflects the deep-seated animosity that this [ambulance] fight brought about,” said Councilman Roger Berliner, D-Bethesda/Potomac, of the 5-4 vote. “I don’t think there is any question that this is a disproportionate hit on our volunteers.” |
| Most departments’ cuts were just a small fraction of those doled out to fire and rescue. Supporters, however, said public safety departments weren’t immune to reductions and that they preferred the administrative cuts to those affecting fire response times. |
Montgomery County’s coffers are roughly $85 million short of already bleak projections this fiscal year, county officials learned Tuesday before making more than $32 million in midyear cuts to help fend off the jurisdiction’s brewing financial storm. The new hole is tied primarily to dwindling income and property tax returns. Income tax receipts are $30 million less than projected and property tax revenue is $13.5 million less than expected — even though the suburb’s unemployment rate dropped from 5.7 percent to 5.2 percent.
Officials say the property tax drop-off coincides with a surge of reassessments filed in the wake of sagging home prices, as residents increasingly challenged their appraisals.
The county’s general fund reserves are also $90 million less than projected, and for next fiscal year, revenue estimates are down roughly $75 million.
County Council members said the latest portrait of tumbling revenue reinforced the need for the painful cuts finalized Tuesday, which included reductions in neighborhood senior programs and layoffs for 20 fire officials.
“It?s really hard picking losers and people who lose worse,” said Councilman Marc Elrich, D-at large. “We are clearly going to make people’s lives more difficult.”
Between the low returns and known spending requirements, Montgomery faces a more than $300 million shortfall over the next year and a half.
The talk of austerity played out before dozens of union members, who gathered at the County Council building in Rockville to show disapproval for a bill reforming the arbitration process for contract disputes.
Under the legislation, which passed unanimously, an arbitrator will mainly rely on the county’s ability to pay in resolving labor contract impasses.
According to the Office of Human Resources, the county averaged more than $106,000 in costs directly related to arbitration hearings during the last three years.
“We’re certainly not happy about it,” said Gino Renne, president of the Municipal and County Government Employees Organization, who questioned the council’s commitment to progressive causes in recent days. “But we’ve moved on. We have to fight other battles.”
In addition to the midyear cuts, Leggett has proposed reductions as high as 15 percent for departments next fiscal year.
