OFF THE FISCAL CLIFF
By Lori Jaffe
It’s Your Money – Take Action Now!
Montgomery County Executive Marc Elrich is driving us taxpayers over a fiscal cliff. We need to take his foot off the accelerator and put on the brakes. You can help the Committee for Better Government limit him to two terms but you must act soon. Ten thousand valid signatures must be gathered by August 2024. (See below).
During his March 14, 2024, FY25 Operating Budget Press Event, Elrich said that he feels “really good” (0:27) about the FY2025 Budget. This is his 18th budget. His 6th as county executive and 12th as council member. Yes, he’s been in power for a very long time.
He continued (3:34): “We could have taken a $25 million cut in this budget to stay within our MOE guidelines. We didn’t do that because that would have meant pulling teachers out of classrooms and doing things that would have been disruptive to schools. So, we are at, you know, $132M over last year.” Yes, that’s 132,000,000 taxpayer dollars.
(4:22) He congratulates Montgomery College: “You get points for reality-based budgeting.” He says, “…when you understand what your resources are and build a budget understanding the resources. Not everybody does that.” Yes, not even Marc Elrich does that.
According to Montgomery Perspective, “council policy requires that one-time revenues be used for one-time purposes, not ongoing spending. Elrich’s budget violates that policy.”
The council staff noted their concerns:
Council staff has concerns about the Executive’s proposed use of one-time resources for ongoing expenditures, sustainability of spending growth given projected resources, and a potential structural deficit as early as FY26:
- The Executive’s proposed budget is not consistent with the Council’s adopted fiscal policies on use of one-time reserves.
- The Executive’s budget commits the County to future funding increases for MCPS under the Maintenance of Effort law.
- The Executive’s recommended budget creates an estimated structural deficit of approximately $115 million in FY26.
Marc Elrich wants to run for a third 4-year term as County Executive in 2026. Do you think he will follow the rules next time? Do you think he will be more careful with your money? Let’s put on the brakes before it’s too late. Please volunteer to hold him to two terms.
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Lori Jaffe is the Party Secretary for the Montgomery County Republican Central Committee, volunteer coordinator and Member of the Executive Board. She can be reached at [email protected]