Montgomery County leaders battle over how to address 1,500 vacant government jobs
MONTGOMERY COUNTY, Md. (FOX 5 DC) - Montgomery County's top leaders are going head-to-head over the best way to address funding for thousands of empty government jobs.
The county is facing a 10% property tax hike that was called for by Montgomery County Executive Marc Elrich. Montgomery County Council President Evan Glass says before hiking taxes, Elrich should be looking at not funding 1,500 vacant positions in the county government.
Glass says he's demanding a list of staffing cuts from Elrich before increasing taxes for residents in the county executive's $6.8 billion budget.
"This is a very difficult budget and the way that we are methodically going through it is that every dollar is being used wisely and efficiently, and we’re just simply requesting the county executive share with us his thoughts on potential staffing reductions," says Glass.
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Montgomery Co. Executive recommends '10 cent' property tax increase
Montgomery County Executive Marc Elrich unveiled his FY 2024 $6.8 billion Operating Budget on Wednesday, recommending a "10-cent increase" to the county’s property tax rate. The revenue would all go toward fully funding Montgomery County’s Public Schools.
Glass warned Elrich in a letter to "ensure that the budget uses the taxpayer resources efficiently." Elrich has blamed the tax hike on $296 million funding request from Montgomery County Public Schools.
While money for future police and fire jobs appear safe, Elrich says he's brought up vacant jobs before with little council interest.
"Hopefully we can work out something between the council and us, but we’d had this discussion when I was first elected and the council didn’t like this kind of generic, ‘Yes, this’ll solve the problem as we go forward,’ approach four or five years ago, but I guess we’re in a different time now," says Elrich.
The new fiscal year begins on July 1. Elrich will hold his final public budget discussions on Monday night, and Glass says he wants answers from Elrich on the vacant job positions by Friday.