Two shows in one week? Yes! OPEN AGENDA Season 2, Episode 9 is now available! On this episode we explore soaring electric costs, shifting of teacher pension obligations from the state to the counties, the County Executive’s deceptive rationale for vetoing the Ethics Commission bill, and the NAACP redistricting lawsuit. Also, if you haven’t had a chance to view Episode 8, which was just released on Monday, it’s not too late to catch it too. Links to both episodes are below. Tune in and be informed…
Open Agenda TV S2 E8: Ethics Board and Property Tax Rates
Show Transcript
Disclaimer: The following transcript was auto-generated and may contain spelling or contextual errors.
you're watching open
Agenda welcome to open Agenda I'm your
host Joe White in this week's episode
we're going to recap the County council
meeting from February 18th as well as
talk about the updates on the CIP that
are bound to come up with as the budget
season for fiscal year 26 uh comes on
board as well as an update the the state
has given out their yield rates for the
uh property tax assessments which is
going to give us an idea not only of
what the budgeting for the county could
be but also where the revenue cap would
fall so in the studio with me today to
discuss is Dr Joe venosa thank you thank
you Mr Mike Goldberg thanks for coming
out gentlemen pleasure to be here so uh
I think the the number one thing we
should talk about from the from the
County council meeting was the the
kennel bill now this was approved two
weeks earlier and and created a you know
and understandably so it was mistake
they it created a lot of uh angst
amongst small business owners kennel
owners in the county um Mike what what
was the process what what exactly did
they do to rectify the mistake they made
well first uh they voted to override The
veto that was issued by the county
executive and then they reconsidered the
bill and restructured it uh whereby
instead of a 1,000 foot setback of the
improvements at the kennel from the
property line it's now only a 500t
setback uh makes it uh much more
palatable for the uh for the kennel
owners and it also provides a a
reasonable amount of um distance so that
adjacent land owners are not uh
disturbed by a bunch of barking dogs uh
it also allowed for special exceptions
if there were any new candles uh that
wanted to come on board or if an exist
kennel wanted to expand their operations
and it brings them closer to the 500 or
below the 500t setback then they can
apply for a special exception and if
it's not a problem for surrounding land
owners um then you know there's no
reason why it would not be approved well
and and I think they did one other
change with the way they calculate the
distance it was property line to
property line and now it's dwelling to
property line cor that's that's that's
my understanding yes I mean that's a big
difference yeah so Joe I mean you know
you you've seen at times when you they
spend a lot of time in work sessions and
get a lot of information together then
ultimately there's these unintended
consequences I mean what do you make of
just exactly how the county executive
used you know this misstep as as as
political fod well I mean I I think
you've you've laid it out pretty clearly
here is again this is a very common
aspect of Municipal excuse me of County
governance you have a bill uh it may not
necessarily be perfect and you kind of
wait for Community feedback engagement
and you wait ideally for the other
branch of government to have a
collaborative approach but let's
understand what happened and you said
this very well at the County council
meeting during public comments Mike um
the executive office was fully uh
invested and on board and part of the
process right during this whole
situation it wasn't until after the fact
that it would seem a few people close to
the executive complained about it
that then she recalibrated but what was
I think troubling and again this is
nothing new this is the same song and
dance is there was this sort of social
media hysteria that was created to I
guess rile people in the community up to
so of almost get them to come to the
council meeting with sort of the
metaphorical you know pitchforks and
torches yeah and and from what we've
learned uh several of the Ken owners
were so worried because they were given
deliberate misinformation by the county
executive that they actually hired a
lawyer president members of the council
I'm John feas I live in Somerset County
but I'm a lawyer who has an office here
in Salisbury I speak here today on
behalf of Marissa Petra and the dog
company I recognize I'm coming from
Somerset County speaking on behalf of a
town of Fruitland business who's
actually not subject to the W Comico
County zoning code so we're here in
solidarity with the other dog kennel
owners here in W Comico County we are
recognizing that appreciate the council
uh reconsidering and trying to correct
the legislation that is before it today
well two different lawyers two different
lawyers excuse me so now you have a
situation where many of these kennel
owners thanks to the county executive
are probably out of some money uh and
certainly had a lot of stress as many of
them indicated uh during public comments
and within uh the day after the original
bill was approved um it became clear
that that the County Council understood
that the bill as passed was problematic
and they articulated that they were
going to make the necessary changes the
county executive was well aware that
they were going to fix the problem and
yet um the county executive uh in
conjunction with a certain uh tabloid
blogger um you know tried to whip people
into a frenzy completely unnecessarily
and this was purely for political
purposes because they knew that they had
a solution Earl Campbell resident of
White kicu County for those who are not
aware I'm the owner of Easter Shore
Undercover the blog that he was talking
about I'm here today to address some
things that I keep hearing over and over
and over again and I keep hearing the
same complaints by members of this
Council about social
media over the course of the last year
I've heard members of this Council
complain about social media probably two
or three dozen times I told a particular
council member maybe a year ago social
media is the best option for getting
information out into your
constituents but for whatever reason
some of you haven't accepted the fact
that nothing in today's Society can
measure the exposure that you can get
through social media regarding social
media Mr Campbell just brought that up
it is an essential tool for
communicating with the public quickly
and transparently the issue needed
immediate attention and without my
efforts to inform the public many
citizens would have been unaware of the
serious consequences of this legislation
the engagement and response from the
public were critical in ensuring this
matter was Revisited I appreciate app
the council's willingness to reconsider
and improve the bill as far as social
media I'm sorry I am off Eastern Shore
undercover because I'm tired of hearing
you guys bicker I don't want to hear it
anymore I just want you to do your jobs
Council Mee so but we got a little Peak
behind the tactics because this I think
this is going to come back up especially
as we go through this budget season uh
the political tactics that the county
executive is willing to use for a
political win on social media post that
she just had last week on a podcast she
said look we're not going to I'm not
going to veto this bill before the
County Council because if she doesn't
veto it they can't reconsider it it's
kind of in limbo for at least another
two weeks but then when they put out
their press release last Friday stating
that hey look we've got this we have a
resolution there's a pathway to get this
right on Monday which is a a holiday a
County holiday federal holiday that's
when The veto comes so this was really
just more about political victories
right well it's empty virtue signaling I
mean I think that's that's the essence
of it because it doesn't do anything
knowing what we know about what the bill
was going to be you know altered too um
and again she reneged on an actual
promise that she supposedly made on that
blogger's let me show you my astonished
face on know that correct so so but you
did not see the pitchforks and the and
the Torches come out because the County
Council in full transparency had to do
their business right in front of the the
public that they they did and it was
clear that this was a win-win for
everybody with a reconsidered Bill
developed by by the County Council um in
fact during the meeting several of the
uh uh kennel owners they got up and left
they knew their problem was solved even
stay yeah they were prepared to to to
yell loudly but they didn't have to and
they were satisfied and and I think
that's a good point because if the goal
had been to create again sort of a media
stunt I think it backfired on the
executive and her blogger very badly
because um essentially what happened was
not only did other kennel owners
basically Express the the fear and
frenzy that they got from the executives
misinformation but ultimately uh they
even said right that the use of social
media to sort of give inaccurate
comments on the issue created more more
stress well and then you so the social
media didn't help and and not that
social media is not a tool it's a tool
oh it's a tool right it is but I think
it's people are getting their
information just like we ask them from
us don't don't take our word for It Go
Go go come watch this for yourself MH
but then to me the the weirdest thing
was when it when it came about the next
morning uh through the local media that
she's now questioning the legality of
what they did I mean if if at the end of
the day the right thing was done and and
you know they had their lawyers there
they were going through the process in a
very you know they knew how to how to
keep this legal why would you then
question it other than you're just
didn't get the political Victory you're
looking for you're flooding the zone as
they say yeah this typ typifies the
behavior of the county executive in my
opinion it's always about getting some
kind of a political win rather than
working cooperatively with the council
uh to to uh forward legislation that
benefits everybody you the benefit
wasn't uh part of the equation it was
just winning and trying to to diminish
the council and yet I don't think it
actually was the win that I think she
calculated and that was sort of the sort
of enjoyable thing to watch is to see
how it was altered well talk about
winning or again losing again is this
veto of the the E the board of Ethics
getting their own independent Council
now and I think this is one thing that a
lot of folks don't understand these
these legislative uh bills don't just
come up like you're not going to just
walk into the County council chambers
one day and there's a legislative bill
that that just came out of nowhere these
things start with work sessions they go
to have public hearings they have to be
they have to be advertised for 45 days
there's public input there's even time
to get up with your your your
representatives and let them know how
you feel it's a process it's a process
we've heard from constituents that
they've had ethical concerns about the
executive branch themselves which goes
to the ethics board which is represented
by the executive's own legal team the
council has simp
allowed them to have independent Council
I mean Mike would you want your own
independent Council well of course I
mean it's it's the it's the fox guarding
the hen house unfortunately and it makes
a lot more sense it's a lot more fair to
have an independent Council who has no
loyalty to either the County Council or
to the county executive you know this is
the kind of um
disinterested party that we should have
in place presently we do not um that has
that has to be
rectified I I I I I want to I want to
share with folks out there one way they
can kind of take a peak behind the the
political maneuverings of the
executive's office so we saw on this
ethics commission bill it passed 7 to
zero now the odd thing is when they were
changing the kennel legislation to
benefit everybody we consistently have
one councilman councilman James W who's
at large who almost always sides on the
same side as the as the county executive
it'll be really interesting when they
have to consider this veto over override
yeah whether or not he changes his vote
and for what purpose it's going to be
very interesting to see what James wi
actually does with these particular
bills yeah I mean i' I've gotten to know
him personally he I I I find him an
engaging guy I just want people who can
think independently and and again like
as we've done sometimes you got to go up
and get the County Council a piece of
your mind the they most certainly do not
make the decisions uh not in a ill will
but they don't make the right decisions
all the time but but they're there for
us publicly to we can do it we we can
address it publicly though that's the
difference so so Mike you you've run
across this you know you you've had you
know legal maneuverings that that have
seemed like this the deck was stacked
against you with the executive's office
I mean how important do you think it is
that they have independent
representation on the legal side well
it's it's essential have to have an
unbiased party you know advising the
ethics commission um the uh and right
now we don't have that essentially what
we have with the county attorney
theoretically the County Attorney works
for all of the people of w Comico County
for both the legislative and the
executive branches but in practice that
simply is not the case the uh the County
Attorney reports solely to the county
executive only the county executive can
fire the County Attorney so obviously
they're going to be motivated to please
the county attorney and other to you to
to keep their to keep their jobs y yeah
well Joe I mean do you think that that
it would be possible for for her to get
the votes necessary to to to negate the
The veto override that's due in in a
couple weeks I mean I I think she's
already lost okay I you know I'll be
curious to see what James wi does or
doesn't do but other than him I I I
think it's sealed and the real question
becomes is is the executive or people in
our office are they going to try to
maneuver to make you know hay out of
this issue too um meaning can she
manipulate local media and bloggers to
motivate people I don't know I mean I
think it's really hard I would I would
hope in this day and age to sort of uh
be so openly against
transparency uh and not get some push
back from the citizens but it's a fight
that we've seen time and time yeah it's
it's the same song in dance well
speaking of transparency in our next seg
I'd like to spend some time talking
about the capital Improvement plan the
work sessions that the County Council is
having with the executives finance
department really just where they stand
with that and and really how is that
going to translate into uh the budget
season for for folks out there who are
watching so so stay with us we'll be
right
back welcome back to open Agenda I'm
your host Joe White in this segment
we're going to talk about the capital
Improvement plan how that process is
unfolding as long as some of the the the
inner workings of what your government
is working on right now at the county
level in the studio with us now is Mr
Bob Taylor thanks for joining us sure
enough U Mike Goldberg thanks for
sticking around still here uh Mr Taylor
you you were the county council's
attorney for several years right correct
so you're you're very familiar with a
lot of these inner workings and I and I
I would say a lot of these these topics
are at times hard to understand but we
want to really just try to to level that
playing field right yeah okay so the the
capital Improvement plan does require
the the county executive to turn the the
plan in in December which he has and now
the the the County government the County
Council should be working through work
sessions with her and her staff to
really come up with the most concise
plan possible they've agreed that this
plan won't be approved in until June
when they finish the budget but uh you
you got you got a chance to watch the
the the work session the other day and
uh you you really weren't very impressed
with the progress right well yeah let
let's back up just a minute there are
two budgets that are adopted each year
there's a capital budget and then
there's a general fund budget just for
your operating expenses salaries things
like that uh the capital budget of
course is for Capital
Improvements um now under the charter
she has to turn in that capital budget
in December and typically in the charter
it has to be adopted by mid-February
okay which is about where we're at now
that's where we are now but they have
postponed that as they have done in many
years until later because of the fact
that the two budgets have to Jive you
only have so much money to go around you
can either borrow or you can tax or you
can take it out of savings it's got to
come from or grants it's got to come
from somewhere so this year we're in a
particular mess because we don't know
what the state's going to do okay on top
of everything else it's a very bizarre
budget year to begin with so what's
happening is we're now kind of Midway in
the process on this CIP yeah I don't
know why they put it on for a recap at
this meeting this week when it doesn't
have to be adopted until as late as June
and it doesn't frankly make much sense
to adopt it before at least the Reg
budget the general fund budget has been
turned in that won't be until April 15
well well Mike you and I we we were at
the work session and and the topic came
up about the the the building they've
purchased near Mount Herman Road in
Route 50 uh that was it's it's intended
to have the health department move out
there it's over 30,000 square ft and and
they bought it for $3 million they they
they had rent income that's coming in
while the while the lease is finishing
up but they're trying to figure out how
much money to put into it uh were you
under the impression that this building
was not going to require a lot of
renovation having seen some of the work
sessions before well it was kind of sold
to the public as being turn key that it
was ready to move in got to keep in mind
this had been it's the former Verizon
building I believe it had been used as
an office building so it's not being
retrofitted for a different kind of use
such as a restaurant in a bar it's still
going to be an office building just a
count office building so when you have
uh an acquisition price of of about $3
million and then they're saying that
it's going to cost another
$22.75 million in uh in interior tenant
improvements well you know that's just
way out of whack I mean it's essentially
doubling but Bob you you've made mention
to me your bigger concern is the fact
that there is over $100 million on the
next two years CIP I mean exactly
getting back to this small building this
Verizon building for a minute I mean I
think paman made some good suggestions
if we're going to do anything with this
building we need to do it while it's
vacant okay and who knows I mean maybe
they should have an uh Consulting
engineer and architect go in and outline
what's needed and then also address what
they want to change and come up with an
estimate uh and that wouldn't preclude
that architect and and engineer that's
Professional Services so they could use
them for the actual construction yeah
what it would preclude would be a
Contracting firm going in and giving an
estimate I think one of the questions is
for the average taxpayers where did they
come up with a $2.75 Million number get
a Consulting architect and engineer firm
to go in look at the way it is but
doesn't the public doesn't the public
deserve to know what their tax dollars
are being invested well my question is
why when they bought this building
didn't the council ask those questions
okay I mean you can you know there's
enough blame if you want to call it that
to go around here well and and let's
keep in mind that we have two other
examples one being the the the
renovation that is breaking ground on
the Civic Center right now and and we
got to remember that that the three of
the seven council members did not vote
to to spend the extra $2 million but
they didn't do that until they did the
county didn't come back and ask for more
money until they knew what they needed
the money for
and so that we have that obligation out
there right now I mean we're we're
spending $2 million that was not funded
was not budgeted for along with the the
library at the W Museum so are we I mean
are we are we going away from good
conservative values where we're starting
to maybe throw our money around like
there's just an endless supply of it I
don't know but I think it's also withth
pointing out getting back to the Verizon
building that they did have a work
session in mid January on on the health
department items in the CIP okay which
include this building none of this came
up then because it wasn't itemized it
was it was right in the it was right in
the CIP that was turned in but it's
pretty much a lumpsum number look when
they acquired that building they know
what the time to bring it up was in
January I'm not I'm not saying there but
but at the same time whether they have
to ask the question lateer or or or
early I still wanted to ask well now's
the time to ask the question because
they know you know roughly how many
people how many employees
at the building will have to accommodate
they have to have some kind of an idea
what they're doing they're not moving an
unknown number of people into this
building for an unknown use so the point
is we don't have $2.75 million burning a
hole in our pocket and we're hoping just
to just to spend it the best way we can
in this one building I want to I want to
go to one other example is is we just
purchased a new building on Market
Street for the child advocacy center
it's two-story building and they've
moved into the first floor while they're
doing the renovations to the second
floor a 30 some thousand square foot
building for the health department that
is squeezed together into the hurdle
building downtown now it does not mean
that we need I mean bonding is 20 years
does not need mean we need to to
allocate funds that could go to a lot of
other things and and I want to go back
to Bob's
Point Bob you told me you're really
concerned about the overall amount of
why in the CIP for the next years they
spent uh infinite amount of time on this
one project when we've got in the next
two years uh if you take away the grant
funding uh over100 million that it's
going to have to be paid for either out
of our Surplus money which we have we
have some um new
bonds or taxes yeah and uh that's a lot
of money it's a lot of money as long as
we don't have some of these other
variables and and and Mike you and I
talked about this it just seems like
what say Fruitland primary school we
don't really understand in fact I
followed up today to get the the number
in its moved again exactly how much the
state needs the county to forward fund
uh I know that the the council's had
work sessions with the board of
education but quite honestly none of us
Board of Education the council the
executive none of us know exactly how
the state budget is going to affect the
County's finances until it's finalized
in mid November or mid April I'm sorry
if you don't know what your revenue is
going to be regardless of what the
source of that revenue is whether it's
coming from the state or coming from tax
dollars then how can you possibly plan
everything is a variable everything is
an assumption and you know you know what
they say about assuming you know it's
not what we want to do one thing I think
we can reasonably expect is that even as
tight as money is right now it's going
to become tighter Maryland is entering
into a fiscal crisis and it's it's here
and it's only going to get worse so we
can't predict how much money or the
county will receive in Grants and we
can't predict when we will get that
money so when we come back we're
actually going to try to explain the the
yield rate calculations and just really
how that could affect your property
taxes for the county the revenue cap and
really tie in to the rest of the
County's budget so stay with us we'll be
right back
welcome back to open Agenda I'm your
host Joe White in this segment we're
going to really talk about how the yield
rate for the state would affect property
taxes would also affect the budget
process and the capital Improvement plan
in the studio with me is Dr joov vosa
thanks for stay sticking around thank
you Mr Mike Goldberg thank you glad to
be here as always so Mike we brought
your house uh I mean it's a nice house
um I like the the Landscaping looks
wonderful you got a sunflower over here
trimming is yeah very great so Mike uh I
understand last year on this house that
you own you paid $11,000 in property
taxes is that right that's correct all
right pay it up come on this is really
hard for me to get rid of for anyone out
there who is looking to Rob Mike later
this is actually just play money so just
like in the real world I'm I'm still
going to try the pass of off at Kentucky
Fried CH though so um so Bob Taylor gave
us some analysis why he was in the
studio earlier and really talked about
how the the yield rate for the property
assessment values in the county went up
6.6% uh and and we are lucky in this
County that we have a revenue cap uh
which will keep that from growing no
more than
2% because uh it 6.6% I mean Mike on his
,000 would you would be paying an
additional what $66 right don't ask me
to do math I was a banker I can't do a
I'm the government I'm taking the money
rate from it but no look with the
revenue cap I mean the the the cap is on
average is $20 not the 66 kiss a goodbye
so it's it's paid now Joe this money
this is the same money that they use to
to fund capital projects and also the
operating budget we're coming into the
budget season and unfortunately we still
do not have the the analysis the the
financial audit from
2024 which closed 8 months go right yes
I mean so so let's clarify for the
public so imagine if you're trying to
budget your own situation and you know
nothing of what your expenses were for
the last eight months and now you're
looking for the next year Well
specifically I mean state law says two
months ago this was supposed to be
presented and Mike we've we've asked for
this at the at the meetings right we
have and it simply has not been done and
the the county executive is in violation
of law by having failed to submit this
you know we we come from all political
spectrums the three of us this is not a
Republican or or a Democrat thing this
is you know this is just math I mean
Mike you're you're retired you've worked
your whole life and uh you're you're now
basically on a fixed income uh I mean
you still have $40 $46 in your pocket
over there I mean are you are you hoping
to hold on to that I'm hoping to but
something tells me um it's going to be
flying out of my hand well so Joe you
you're you're you're a young husband dad
and and you got a kid who's he called he
called me young Rel I'll take it I'll
take it I'll take it but you know one of
the things that's been underfunded in
this County for many years is education
yes which also happens to be the one
area that the that the revenue cap can
be busted to fund uh last year the Board
of Education asked for how much money
they asked for $8 million in additional
funds just to cat up right yeah which
from their point of view is the is what
what they would call maintenance of
effort which is the minimum amount that
you would have to fund the budget so BAS
basically they said in order for us to
operate at a at a minimum level to
achieve what we need for teachers staff
student services we would need 8 million
the county gave them one one million and
it was a one-time payment it was a one
time payment so this year the
understanding is they're going to ask
for 9 million right yes and at the same
time we funded uh we thought we funded
our portion of the Fruitland primary
school I mean there six months ago if
you had asked anybody in this County we
thought we were we were we were told
right that the that the funding was
there the project would be supported we
were told by our executive that because
she supposedly has the ear of the
governor that basically that project was
more or less
guaranteed and now we we in the state's
looking for us to forward fund it
correct now Mike you and I were at the
work session at the at the capital
Improvement plan work session and we
thought we were going to hear answers
both from the County Council and the
executives representative uh Director of
Finance how they planned on on funding
Fruitland primary school with the
forward funding right that's what we
expected to hear but that's not what
actually happened so yeah I mean we we
we got the as we covered earlier we got
the the 30 minutes of talking about
elevator shafts in a building we're not
going to occupy for eight months uh
where does this leave us where does this
leave folks like you in the in the in
the county as taxpayers well I'm deeply
concerned about uh property taxes going
up um right now we know that the county
executive has a number of pet projects
many of which benefit her campaign
donors and in order to fulfill her
campaign Promises to the campaign donors
she's going to prioritize those so we
wind up loading up that left side of the
equation but that leaves uh insufficient
funds to fully fund the schools as
necessary to uh either achieve the
maintenance of effort or give them
anything extra so how are we going to
get the money that the that the schools
are going to need if every if other
imperatives have instead been funded
well this is where the U the county can
bust the revenue cap and that would be a
bad thing in my estimate we're we're all
going to wind up paying for that but
it's not like we don't want to fund the
Fruitland Primary School right we of
course we we want to fund it because I
think schools are an important priority
we don't have a future if we don't have
you know educated you know young people
um unfortunately I think a lot of the
priorities are not the right priorities
I mean just a for instance you know we
have the expansion to the Civic Center
uh a bunch of uh aesthetic improvements
to the exterior do we really need that
can we live with a library as it is now
or do we have to to move it elsewhere
you know these are just a couple of
examples but they cost one heck of a lot
of money so uh maybe some of uh those
projects can be forestalled until we're
um on more stable Financial ground but
we can't even have that conversation if
we don't even have the information on
last year's budget let alone enough
sufficient time to discuss where we're
going we don't know where we've been we
can't tell where we're going I I think
one thing our County council's proven is
given a very small amount of time to
make one right decision isn't
necessarily their strength uh the public
deserves work sessions they deserve
public hearing
but also the County Council does need
the time to process that information not
making last Stitch efforts to to make
something right but there this isn't
just about a a tax increase this also
could be because we have the revenue cap
this could be just a lack of the base
rate going down as low as it could go
because I mean we one thing we can't
help is uh the the assess value of our
homes right now is on the rise so it's
not as if People's tax bills necessarily
going to go down but maybe it's not
going up by as much as it could because
the revenue cap with it's designed to
back the rate up so that the overall
receipts of the county for property tax
purposes only goes up 2% or
less you know the government taking less
than what they can is not fathom but we
we saw you know appointed delegate Barry
beum talk in the at the county executive
CIP Hearing in in October you want to
know who was excited about paying more
property taxes good evening Barry beum
County resident and um as far as the um
I guess the elephant in the room here
everybody's talking about you know we
need funds and the funds are lack
thereof um I'd say the elephant in the
room is the tax cap and I'm just curious
how many people here would be willing to
have their taxes property taxes
raised to support to support any project
because because and that's that's really
what we need to to really look at and
you know for me to say hey I'm in favor
you know of of a tax increase I'm really
no one wants to hear that but I'll be
honest with you um from the state level
yesterday I was I was in a zoom meeting
and basically we're about one point $2
billion dollar in a deficit this year
next year will be two billion dollar in
a deficit and basically what what is
happening everybody keeps kicking the
can down the road per se the problem is
that we don't have enough money to fund
these but the what I really like to see
everyone in this room that I looked at
raised their hand and they don't mind
property tax cap you know being taken
away Rue cap or Revenue cap I'm sorry
yeah so so you know basically I would
say that that's where we're going to
have to look as much as no one wants to
talk about it and I certainly don't want
to be the guy to rais my hand say it but
really that's that's where we're at some
people actually raised their hand I I
didn't raise my hand nor did I it struck
me when again and I and you know let's
let's be open about it I'm sort of from
the side of the aisle that's that's
probably more people would be more
inclined to be okay with getting rid of
the revenue cap to some extent so I was
I was kind of surprised that an
appointed uh supposedly fiscally
conservative
uh delegate would almost want to be the
cheerleader uh for raising uh tax rates
for people yeah I'm I'm a Conservative
Republican you know fiscally uh on
social issues you know pretty much
across the board some of the so-called
Republicans that we presently have in
power in our County they they claim to
be Republicans they claim to be
conservative are essentially advocating
for increased spending and raising taxes
these are not conservative values
and yet they Tred to represent
themselves as being conservatives I'd
also argue that the priorities are not
particularly though if they're not
conservative they're also not
Progressive or liberal because what
we're saying they're just self- serving
they're self- serving exactly self
serving so I'm actually you know I'm
actually going to state that I don't
think that our executive's office is of
a conservative nature at all and in fact
I think a lot of the the political quote
unquote wins are just masked as
conservatism but when it comes to
spending and this is the chance for the
public to really see you know hard
decisions need to be made so is your is
your County Council representative or
you're at large or or them as a group
are they actually using your tax dollars
in what is the what makes the most sense
giving the current financial situation
of our state and maybe even our country
not because we're going to sit here and
debate federal tax policy but how does
it relate to the local folks the people
like Mike putting up his money on on his
cute house here here goes the rest of it
Jo is now the time for people to get
involved now is time people PID
attention now is the time for people to
get involved whether it's physically
attending Council meetings where they're
talking to their representatives be they
on the council or the Board of Ed and
frankly if people are really you know
even more inclined even though I doubt
you'll get an answer contact the County
executive's office directly well you
won't find her at a County council
meeting and you don't have a lot of open
opportunities to you don't but there is
any address and there's a phone number
and I would certainly encourage people
to reach out if if they do want to get a
sense of these numbers because again you
said it's not you know it's a spending
problem that's true but it's also a
spending problem because we're spending
in the dark we don't know what's
happened from the last year's audit let
alone what's coming up this is what
happens to people when they never
balance their checkbook they don't know
where they've been they can't foresee
how much they're going to have to spend
next year it's very simple problem and
in in the private sector like I guess
there are people who do go bankrupt if
they don't you know that's not an option
for our government it is well thanks for
tuning in this week to the episode
please pay attention to what's going on
now is the time for your eyes and ears
to be out on the street we'll be back
next week with another new
episode give me that money
