All Postings
-
Read more: Publicly Funded Campaigns: Take the Money and Hide
Publicly Funded Campaigns: Take the Money and Hide
Montgomery County offers public funding for county council and county executive campaigns. One objective of public funding is to give outsider candidates access to funds only available to the insiders. Typically the candidates who secure public financing say they want to be free of special interests such as “developers.” Here are the high-level faults with…
-
Read more: Stop the Spend – A Well Crafted Reform
Stop the Spend – A Well Crafted Reform
Comparing tax burdens across jurisdictions is an impossible task. A high property tax rate is meaningless if you have an exemption from paying the tax. Regardless, let’s compare some common taxes in three state jurisdictions with different property tax levies. Maryland California Tennessee Levies property tax Yes Capped Yes Sales tax 6.00 7.25 7.00 Corporate…
-
Read more: A Tale of Two BoEs: Elections and Education
A Tale of Two BoEs: Elections and Education
In his foundational essay Second Treatise of Government (1687), John Locke wrote about the necessity of a stable and predictable legal foundation for a society to succeed. freedom of men under government is, to have a standing rule to live by, common to every one of that society, and made by the legislative power erected…
-
Read more: Question A, MCPS’s Deferred Maintenance, and 怨天尤人
Question A, MCPS’s Deferred Maintenance, and 怨天尤人
A recent presentation by MCPS mentioned a $3 billion “deferred maintenance backlog,” based on the results of a study done by an outside consultant. For those of us watching the county’s finances, that’s not a surprise. Bethesda-based Marriott, a world-class corporation with stellar management, tracks depreciation on its quarterly reports. Any accountant will tell you…
-
Read more: Without Question A, It’s Socialism for the Rich
Without Question A, It’s Socialism for the Rich
The Board of Elections made a determination that Question A is 302 signatures short of the 10,000 required. We are evaluating our possible next steps. Should Question A not appear on the ballot, what is next for MoCo? Socialism for the rich, a term that Martin Luther King incorporated into several of his speeches and…
-
Read more: An Example of Fiscal Critical Thinking
An Example of Fiscal Critical Thinking
In a message from July 17, County Executive included a graph with which many budget wonks are familiar: a comparison of MoCo’s property tax rates to other counties in the DC region. It looks like MoCo aligns with its neighbors, arguably a tad lower. This graph has little to do with the matter at hand:…
-
Read more: Glass is the Spoiler, but Who is the Winner?
Glass is the Spoiler, but Who is the Winner?
Let’s step back four years when the world was just as it is today only a shade less violent and bigoted. There were three serious candidates for the office of county executive on the Democratic primary ballot: Marc Elrich, David Blair, and Hans Riemer. Elrich “won” the plurality vote by 32 votes. At the time…
-
Read more: Back-Door Deals and Glass Houses
Back-Door Deals and Glass Houses
In 1732, an eternal artifact of American culture appeared: Poor Richard’s Almanack by Richard Saunders, otherwise known as Benjamin Franklin. Franklin published the almanac in annual editions for the following 25 years. Among other things the almanac contains wit and wisdom that today’s readers, circumscribed by wireless gadgets and threatening robots, still find relevant. Some…
-
Read more: Small Business Donates Big to Stop The Spend
Small Business Donates Big to Stop The Spend
How can you tell if someone is successful? Employees are successful when they show up, do their work well, and can be counted on. Physicians are successful when their patients recover. Attorneys are successful when they consistently deliver results for their clients. Politicians are successful when they improve the lives of the people they represent.…
-
Read more: Stop the Spend – A Non-Partisan Initiative
Stop the Spend – A Non-Partisan Initiative
Stop the Spend is an initiative to constrain the growth of county spending to the rate of inflation. We are currently collecting signatures to have our initiative appear on the November ballot. A few weeks ago a group of us from Stop the Spend were out gathering signatures. One resident asked me, “Are you a…