Park Should Be Voted Down

Tonight Wicomico citizens have an opportunity to stand up and let their elected officials know that purchasing land for another park on the west side of Wicomico County is yet one more example of throwing tax dollars down the drain. I realize that there are people who sincerely want a new park. If I actually thought that this was the aim I probably wouldn’t oppose it. Unfortunately, there is no evidence that purchasing this land will accomplish anything more than lining the pockets of a few citizens while reducing the assessable tax base of this county.

Let’s look at the facts. Wicomico County already owns a sizable tract of land on the west side of the Wicomico River (the Pirate’s Wharf property) that was designated for a park. Nothing has been accomplished on building a park on that property to date. There are serious questions as to whether the taxpayers would be paying too much for the Crooked Oak Lane property currently under discussion. If the county goes through with the purchase, then the county’s tax base will be reduced. If the property is actually worth over $2 million, then that should lower county revenues by $1 million - $2 million per year. It’s my understanding that the property is not assessed at anything near the $2+ million that the county wants to pay. If not, why not?

To add insult to injury, the Daily Times describes the property as “another WinterPlace-like park for residents”. Have any of you visited WinterPlace Park recently? County parks chief Gary Mackes can’t seem to find the money in his budget to provide for upkeep of WinterPlace. Where do you think that he will find the funds to build and then maintain another park.

I’ve been told by county officials that WinterPlace is going to be fixed up. Fine. When Mackes has shown that he can take care of the properties already under his stewardship, then (and only then) should the County Council begin discussion of feeding Mr. Mackes’ growing bureaucracy.

Wicomico County Councilman Joe Holloway is right. There have been serious questions raised about the objectivity of the appraisals on this property. There appears to be a strong case that the county wishes to purchase the land at an inflated price.

In addition, most of the people pushing for this purchase love to point out that this isn’t costing the county taxpayer a nickel. According to these people, wasting state tax dollars is somehow OK. I disagree. We all ultimately pay the bill for such folly. Wicomico County is not in the “land banking” business. If they are going to acquire land for parks, then there should already be a plan in place develop and maintain that park. In a county with a revenue cap we can hardly afford to take property off of the tax rolls to lie fallow until the county government figures out how to fund the construction and maintenance of a new park.

In a county that has a reported road repair backlog of over $10 million, our elected officials need to figure out how to address pressing infrastructure needs before they begin banking land and talking about building parks that the county government clearly can’t afford.

cross posted at Salisbury News

Technorati Tags: Maryland, Wicomico, politics, Wicomico politics, fiscal policy, parks, Gary Mackes, Joe Holloway

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