Council says Md. legislature targeting county’s residents

Montgomery County lawmakers frustrated by their attempts to negotiate a fiscal 2009 budget blasted the Maryland legislature’s efforts, saying the county has been unduly burdened with declining funds, rising taxes and unfriendly legislation.

“There’s not a lot of good news out there,” said Council President Mike Knapp, citing declining federal revenues and the state’s new income tax on the almost 7,000 people in the state who make more than $1 million, 41 percent of whom live in Montgomery County. The new tax helped to replace money lost from the repeal of a computer services sales tax.