Do You Miss Them Yet?

DO YOU MISS THEM YET?

By Stacey Sauter

Perhaps you miss them now: the slate of Republican candidates the MCGOP put forth in last year’s County Council election, plus Reardon “Sully” Sullivan for County Executive. Especially given that in just over six months, the Democrat-controlled County Council has passed multiple bills that are bound to cost residents in MOCO billions more in taxes and fees.

The GOP 2022 candidates are highly successful, talented folks who fought valiantly to break the leftist juggernaut in Montgomery County. They tried to bring us individual prosperity, economic growth, balanced budgets, lower taxes, a strong police force, and better schools with stronger parents’ rights. Unfortunately, the current Council prevailed, leaving us to be governed by the most hard-nosed, progressive members in its entire history. This includes the socialist democrat County Executive Marc Elrich (or, better yet, “Marxist” Elrich). 

Maybe these sobering facts will inspire you to realize what a difference any one of our GOP candidates – even just one of them -- would have made by helping to stop any one of the highly controversial, expensive bills the Council recently passed. Since their December 5^th, 2022 Inauguration Day --  just 239 days into the new council’s term -- these “Marxist” bills have become MOCO law:

Reardon "Sully" Sullivan

County Executive Candidate

Dan Cuda

County Council Candidate

District 2

Cheryl Riley

County Council Candidate

District 4

Kate Woody

County Council Candidate

District 5

Viet Doan

County Council Candidate

District 6

Harold C. Maldonado

County Council Candidate

District 7

• Comprehensive Buildings Decarbonization. Barring few exceptions, by December 31^st, 2026, this bill will require nearly all new residential and commercial buildings to be built with all electric systems. That’s all electric. No gas. No consumer choice in the matter. And all before the Maryland Public Service Commission (“PSC”) completes a state-mandated study on “the capacity of each [utility’s] gas and electric distribution systems to successfully serve customers under a managed transition to a highly electrified building sector.” Essentially, “Marxist" Elrich wants to eliminate our gas stoves, gas fireplaces, and gas heat while eventually forcing us to drive electric cars. You might argue it’s cleaner energy, but it feels like dirty pool when even Pepco and BG&E vociferously lobbied against it due to insufficient grid capacity. The costs of this bill are expected to be staggering. Suggestion: stock up on flashlights and batteries as you’ll likely need them should rolling black-outs become a fact of life here such as in California with similar mandates.
• Property Tax Increase of 4.7%. Don’t be fooled into believing this is a bargain compared to the 10% that “Marxist” Elrich promoted. If you’re a commercial or residential property owner, you may have already noticed a big jump in your latest property tax bill. But hold on to your wallets because they’re not done yet. The Democrats -- who’ve controlled the county’s wallet for over four decades – have built up a $145 million budget deficit. And while this tax increase is presumed to help close the gap, it is already scaring off development in the commercial sector. This means fewer businesses and workers adding money to our coffers -- all adding to further deficits.
• Recordation Tax Increase. So even if you decide to leave tax-heavy MOCO, the Council has decided to hit you up on the way out by increasing the charges levied on buyers and sellers when conveying real estate here. HINT: fully one-third of the increased funds are slated for rental assistance programs in MOCO’s Housing Initiative Fund, which you just might need if your taxes continue on this trajectory.
• Rent Control. Bringing rent control to bear on all Montgomery County landlords has been a longtime passion of “Marxist” Elrich – a resident of nuclear-free Takoma Park where rent control has been active for years. Passage of this bill shot yet another poison dart in the county’s commercial development sector. The “Rent Stabilization” bill establishes a maximum allowable rent increase of up to six percent of the base rent (with certain contingencies). It is a complicated formula with different impacts on rental units or buildings of varying ages, status, and conditions. But already, according to a July 17^th article by Adam Pagnucco in the Montgomery Perspective, developers are stopping, or planning to stop, construction of multi-family buildings. This, at a time when the county is already facing serious housing shortages.
• Thrive 2050. Oh, the irony. Right after the November 8^th, 2022, election, the lame-duck council granted “Marxist” Elrich’s passionate wish by passing his long-term growth plan for the county. Thrive 2050 embodies Elrich’s socialist democrat vision to create more affordable housing across the county. This includes rezoning in certain sectors to allow replacement of single-family homes with duplexes, triplexes and quad-style housing. But the increased costs of doing business here from decarbonization, plus higher property and transfer taxes, may just keep Thrive 2050 on the vision board for a while longer.

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And as if all of this weren’t enough, we’ve seen the MOCO School Board adamantly choose not to give parents the right to “Opt-Out” of curricula that they find offensive and inappropriate to their school-aged children in our public schools.

But hey, there’s some good news: we can now ride our bikes in one of the dedicated lanes on Old Georgetown Road as we contemplate the 1,194 days the current council has left to continue imposing their expensive, utopian agenda on us.

It really was one mighty fine slate of GOP candidates dedicated to individual prosperity, economic growth, balanced budgets, lower taxes, a strong police force, and better schools with stronger parents’ rights. So, DO YOU MISS THEM YET?

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Stacey Sauter is a Republican former candidate for the Maryland House of Delegates, a REALTOR and member of the Montgomery County Republican Party Central Committee. She can be reached at [email protected]

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