LEADERSHIP
Tuesday’s Wicomico County Council meeting was a disgrace.
I think that we all hoped that the signs of progress in the last month would materialize into something really positive in the coming months. Unfortunately, this is not the case. Wicomico County has committed to building a new Bennett High, with no means of paying for it. Council President Tony Sarbanes seems to prefer arguing with the Republican members of Council rather than accomplishing something. GOP members of Council appear to prefer obstruction rather than accomplishment.
Excise Tax –
The Council voted not to pursue an excise tax by a vote of 4 – 3. The nay votes were the three GOP members and Council Vice President Chip Dashiell. I happen to agree with the nay sayers on the vote, but not on the why. We have stated many times on “Delmarva Dealings†that the county needs an excise tax to help pay for schools. However, we do not think that an excise tax should be agreed to until the County adopts a schools impact fee. Unfortunately the three Republican members of County Council, Stevie Prettyman, Gail Bartkovich and Larry Dodd, are unwilling or unable to stand up and state their position on an excise tax. Are they for it only after impact fees are passed? Are they totally opposed to an excise tax? Are they for an excise tax, but only under certain circumstances or conditions? Tell us. Your constituents and your colleagues on council deserve to know.
In addition to the timing of an excise tax, the $1.00 per square foot tax proposed appears to be woefully inadequate to handle the future capital needs of the school system in Wicomico County. Irregardless of the amount of taxation authority asked for, a case needs to be made for the amount. If you are limiting the tax to what will be needed to pay for Bennett, you are woefully short sighted. This is not the last school that will need to be built or renovated in the near future. Where is your plan? Show us how and when you are going to implement it and how you are going to pay for it.
Impact Fees –
The discussion of impact fees is being moved to January. That’s fine, but only if there is going to be a full and open discussion. This is not an issue to attempt political points (unless your point is that you are a leader). This is not an issue to be an obstructionist on (see Excise Tax). County Attorney Ed Baker prepared a briefing for the Council using the old Tischler report. Council needs to study the briefing and the report. Baker and the county finance staff should be prepared to answer specific questions. Will the fees suggested in the old report pass judicial scrutiny today? Are they adequate to meet the intended needs? Is a higher fee appropriate? If so, how much? Perhaps the County should bring in the folks from Tischler to attend the work session and answer questions.
Once the questions have been addressed, then action needs to be taken. After an impact fee is enacted, the question of an excise tax needs to be raised again. The citizens of Wicomico should demand that Prettyman, Bartkovich and Dodd fully explain their respective positions on an excise tax. If they are unwilling to publicly answer questions about this issue they don’t deserve re-election any more than Sarbanes.
APFO –
Tony Sarbanes should be ashamed of himself. Instead of promoting an open discussion of the issues at hand, Mr. Sarbanes chooses to act like some Third World Tin Pot. Councilwoman Stevie Prettyman has asked at the last two meetings that a briefing on a possible APFO be prepared by the County Attorney’s office. Rather than appear to bite the hand that feeds him, Tony Sarbanes has shut it down. Why Tony? Are you afraid that any proposed legislation would be something that even you couldn’t make up a reason for voting against?
An APFO does not mean that development will cease.
First, it depends on what the APFO says. Of course I don’t think any member of County Council will vote for an APFO that allows building in a district where schools are 130%+ of capacity. It’s too easy to just let things go as they are. But if there was a strong APFO in place developers could still build. They would just have to help pay for more capacity and slow down a little.
Second, there is already so much proposed (and approved) development in the pipeline that I don’t think that you will see too many new proposals. Almost all of that development is on property that is annexed (or is waiting to be annexed). An APFO would not apply to annexed property. The answer to this is to halt re-zoning prior to annexation. If a developer wants to build a subdivision, they will have to wait five years after annexation before the city can rezone. This allows time for the county to plan (I know, a big assumption) for the impact on schools, roads, etc.
Unfortunately, the only option that the county has at their disposal now (due to a total lack of leadership in the past) is to tax the hell out of new development in the city with impact fees and an excise tax.
If Stevie Prettyman is serious about an APFO and not just pandering to a constituency she should seize the initiative. There are outside groups available to help in drafting an APFO. Start with Washington and Frederick Counties as guides. Washington County has an extremely effective APFO in place. It is a model for every county in the state, possibly the country. The only problem is that Wicomico wasn’t proactive like Washington County was. If Wicomico County adopted this model, all new development would have to stop (excepting the land already re-zoned and annexed). Frederick County adopted their APFO after experiencing the type of problems presently facing Wicomico County. Their biggest problem was roads and not schools, but it is a good place to look.
Pick up the phone Stevie. Call some of these people up and talk to them. The University System is another place to look for help. Come up with a plan. Present it to the public. Make a motion at Council and force a debate. If no one will second your motion, then at least you have made the attempt. Pandering only works on the lowest common denominators within your constituency.
The Old Salisbury Mall –
I was ashamed to say that I live in Wicomico County because of this fiasco. The developers failed to show up at the meeting on time. Because of this, the approval of the development’s Tax Increment Financing was moved to later in the meeting. The fact that this was not voted down or at least tabled shows what a bunch of whipped puppies the County Council appears to be. Larry Dodd made a half hearted attempt to appease his constituents, but he allowed Tony Sarbanes and Ed Baker to snooker him. This was the last shot at addressing density. The developers are rumored to be trying to flip the property to a larger developer. Without the TIF (tax increment financing) it is unlikely that they will be able to do this. If Larry Dodd really cared about his constituents, he would have voted against the TIF (which seemed to pass unanimously with no real discussion about the TIF itself). In addition, he should have tried some delaying maneuver. At the very least he should have railed against the developers for not bothering to be there on time. Every member who voted for the TIF just looked like a lap dog for Natelson et al.
In addition to the vote itself, the question of parking came up. The developers want parking on Civic and Glen Avenues. These are evidently county roads and need county approval. Jack Lennox (the City / County Planning Director) stood up and said that plans weren’t finalized. I am not prepared to call the man a liar, but I’d swear they presented their parking plans to Salisbury City Council.
The bottom line is that it appears that Wicomico County Council is back to it’s old tired ways of doing business. It’s easy to blame Tony Sarbanes. Sure, he’s a disgrace and I truly hope that he does run for the State Senate so that Lowell Stoltzfus can kick Tony’s *** into the political ether. The problem is, what then? No one on council (Republican or Democrat) has shown either the intellectual strength or leadership skills to solve the problems that Wicomico County faces. Chip Dashiell would be the logical choice to take command of the situation. The man is not stupid. The question is will he be a leader?
If Ms. Bartkovich, Ms. Prettyman or Mr. Dodd don’t want to lead, why should they be returned to office? Partisanship is not an excuse. Just because Tony Sarbanes wants to be an obstructionist doesn’t mean that the other members do. Work with the other members. Engage in debate, both public and not. Persuade. If you are unable to these things, you have no place in government. If all you want to do is pander to groups like VOICE, then run for Congress. That seems to be all that they are good for in this day and age.
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IT’S DEJA VU, ALL OVER AGAIN, YOGI
The planning & zoning mess at the old Salisbury Mall sounds just like the Hearne property boondoogle by the County Council — we’ve got to do what the developers want even though 800+ is way too many homes, etc., because we said we would approve their plans. If Barkovich and Dodd are concerned, why don’t they do something about it instead of giving the developers everything they want?
Then, we have Salisbury City Council, which could have done something to correct the Hearne situation but failed us. Now, it is doing so again at the old mall, despite all the posturing by Dunn & Comegys about “growth pays for growth”.
They are giving the developers a $20 Million tax break, too.
FYI — this posted on another Blog.
THE REAL SUGARPLUM FAIRY…
is the City Council. Why in the world would they even be considering a huge special tax break along with over 800 units and another scopping center — the owner should have torn down the mall by now and developed the project it got approved several years ago.
Publius, please…
What do you mean by this:
The University System is another place to look for help.
Wow–what a fantastic politically savy purveyor of truth is this Delmarva Dealings dude!!!! When are you going to run–you’d get it done….Tell it like it is, brother. Amen. This County Council group is unbelieveable–no courage, no courage. Love this Delmarva Dealings!!!!!!! Anybody got Natelson’s address/e-mail, etc.==we need to tell him the true sentiments. He needs to hear it loud and clear–”in your face” time.
Washington county!!!Thats one of the poorest counties in Maryland and they actually have the ability to work with what few $$ they have?So why cant Wicomico?
To First Timer -
The University of Maryland System (in particular) and other Universities (in general) have groups, research arms, etc. available to provide expertise in various Public Administration matters (like APFO’s). Since Tony Sarbanes won’t allow the County Attorney to draw up a proposed APFO, these are good places for someone like Stevie Prettyman to look for expertise in getting a Wicomico-specific APFO draft drawn up and to force a discussion on the issue.
Right you are, Publius–why can’t the CITY and County utilize the expertise in the University of Maryland system–others in the State surely do and they are most accommodating. Here, we have City wanting to spend $l00,000.00 on growth issue consulting when the University of Maryland has expertise in this field and has done many studies for other Maryland jurisdictions.
Publius, Thank You
I thought you might have been referring to the “PACE” group at Salisbury Univ., whose directory board includes many of those who have caused our problems, namely:.
Greg Bassett - The Daily Times
Brad Bellacicco - Salisbury Chamber of Commerce
Liz Bellavance - Community Representative
Talmadge Branch - Md. House of Delegates
Jerry Bruno - Political Consultant (retired)
Norman Conway - Md. House of Delegates
Adelaide Eckardt - Md. House of Delegates
Len Foxwell - Salisbury University
Jeannie Haddaway - Md. House of Delegates
Barbara Hawk - Institute for Governmental Services (retired)
Marion Keenan - Md. Coastal Hospice
Dan Kuennen - University of Maryland Eastern Shore
Rick Pollitt - Fruitland, Md. City Manager
Alan Rosenthal - Eagleton Institute of Politics
Paul Sarbanes - United States Senator
Tony Sarbanes - Wicomico Co. Council
Barrie Tilghman - Salisbury, Md. Mayor
Dear PBGOLFZ
Washington County is hardly poor — its about the same as Wiconico in per capita income, and both are in the medium range on a nationwide basis — they are in the second tier in Maryland because so many of the counties in the Baltimore-DC area are extremely wealth on that basis — in, fact the statewide average is amongt the highest in the U.S. In point of fact, Wicomico is simply unwilling — not unable — to finance its infrastructure. Here’s recent data, which shows that the wealth has crossed the Bay Bridge as well — see Talbot & Queen Anne’s:
1 Montgomery County $35,684
2 Howard County $32,402
3 Talbot County $28,164
4 Anne Arundel County $27,578
5 Queen Anne’s County $26,364
6 Baltimore County $26,167
7 Calvert County $25,410
8 Frederick County $25,404
9 Charles County $24,285
10 Harford County $24,232
11 Carroll County $23,829
12 Prince George’s County $23,360
13 St. Mary’s County $22,662
14 Worcester County $22,505
15 Kent County $21,573
16 Cecil County $21,384
17 Washington County $20,062
18 Wicomico County $19,171
19 Dorchester County $18,929
20 Caroline County $17,275
21 Baltimore City $16,978
22 Allegany County $16,780
23 Garrett County $16,219
24 Somerset County $15,965
Above per capita income data is for 1999 — and here are benchmarks for that year:
Maryland (statewide) - 25,614
Entire United States - 21,587
We are a bit below the US average, but we sure ain’t poor — and Washington County isn’t, either.
To Be Advised -
Per capita wealth (and certainly not per capita or household income) has nothing to do with a county’s ability to finance infrastructure. It all depends on their property tax set-up. In many rural and suburban counties, the wealthiest people live on estates that are taxed as agricultural property (at a lower rate in many cases).
As for wealth moving across the bridge, this is true to a point. Talbot has always been wealthy. They used to brag about having more millionaires per square mile than any other place in the country. Also, I believe that the numbers you are citing are household income numbers and not wealth per capita or per household (there is a big difference between wealth and income).
Be Advised,,, How about Sussex County? Just curious.
I have been trying to think exactly what has Tony Sarbanes and the Council accomplished during their tenure? I can’t think of anything…….
Now, now, Publius
Per capita income is a fairly good indicia of the ability to pay taxes. Another measure sometimes also used is per capita tax base — a measure on which Worcester County leads the State because so many of its property owners reside elsewhere.
That said, let me compliment you on one of your best comments to date — I’ve seen the “Seven Dwarfs” meeting on TV and you have really summed it up. Lets throw all of them — Democrat & Republican — out of office next year. Too bad we can’t get rid of Salisbury’s “Dream Team” until 2007.
Mr. P.,
You really are one of us, just like like my little buddy Mumbles and me. Thank you for supporting us for trying to pass an excise tax for the last 3 years. We only need an excise tax and not an APFO. An APFO would put all my developer friends out of business. I need you and your group wecare to push for a high excise tax and to get rid of that darn revenue cap. We no the people weren’t smart enough to vote on the cap issue. That is why I need to make decisions for voters, look what they did with the County Executive vote. Mumbles is already the executive.
To Be Advised -
I understand exactly what you are saying. However, the problem at hand is not a given population’s ability to pay taxes but whether or not the local tax structure can (or does) require them to.
It is my understanding that part of the problem in Wicomico is that previous administrations would never seek any kind of tax increase. When they finally got around to raising taxes, they did it in such a large increment that a taxpayer revolt ensued (giving us the Revenue Cap).
As a conservative, I hate to be placed in a position where I appear to be arguing for a tax increase of any kind. However, because of the total lack of planning and the tendency of council to be reactionary (rather than proactive), we find ourselves in the position we are in now.
Other jurisdictions of similar ability to pay taxes plan and pay for needed infrastructure. Others wind up in circumstances similar to Wicomico’s. The bottom line is whether or not the local government made the effort to plan ahead.
$19,171 average annual income in Wicomico?then who is buying all those 300k + McMansions in all the new developments?
I stand corrected!!It seems I LIVE in the poorest county in Maryland!You wouldnt know it to see how people live,but the facts dont lie.thanks for the info
Wicomico County needs to learn the basic fundamentals of working within a budget.From Ed Taylors comments,you would think that the county employees will be paid in chickens unless the tax cap is lifted.
The one salient point everyone is missing about the revenue cap is that it allows growth to happen but prevents the county from collecting property taxes to support it. A rate cap would be perfect, but no, we had to get a revenue cap. So if growth happens here at, say, 5 percent, or 3 percent, per year, the county would have to lower property tax rates because it can only collect 2 percent more revenue than the previous year (or less, if inflation rate is lower than 2 percent). So more growth means more services (fire, police) must be provided and more strain on infrastructure (roads and schools) but no mechanism to collect an equivalent increase in revenue. How does that make sense?