Questing for Atlantis

The following op-ed was printed in The Bay Times and The Record-Observer this week:

This past week our commissioners have sought input from Queen Anne’s County residents on the proposed budget and tax increases. Now they face the daunting task of finalizing the budget and the county tax rates.

It’s a job none should envy. Passions run high and the end result will leave many, if not all, unsatisfied.

In light of this formidable endeavor, I’d like to offer some advice to the commissioners in the hope of easing their burden.

However, they have far better knowledge of county government than I possibly could, so I won’t try to give specifics on what to cut or how much to reduce a given department’s resources. I’ll limit myself to six simple principles:

1) Don’t Raise Taxes

At every hearing, person after person came forward and made clear that a tax increase will be an impossible burden for Queen Anne’s County families, deterring new people from coming to Queen Anne’s County and pushing out people living on the margin. Tax increases might seem a short-term fix, but they’re a long-term disaster.

2) Cut Spending by Cutting Programs

Most cuts that have been discussed have focused on maintaining the status quo, but doing it for less. That isn’t enough. The commissioners need to look hard at county government and decide what it needs to do and what it doesn’t. If a program isn’t necessary, get rid of it. Permanently. Only by reducing the scope of government activity can we possibly tame the budget.

3) There are no Sacred Cows

While much of county government is worth keeping, no part of it can be shielded from its share of the burden – no one can be exempt from budget cuts, not the Board of Education, not the Sheriff’s Office, not a single department. Everyone enjoyed the excess over the last 4 years, everyone must share in the sacrifice now.

4) Seek Alternate Sources of Revenue

Cuts aren’t enough. The county must pursue bold, outside-the-box approaches to generating non-tax revenue. From the modest, like relaxing ordinances limiting billboards and charging fees for new ones, to the extreme, like leasing naming rights to our county schools, every opportunity must be explored.

5) Cap Future Spending Growth

Our county is in this mess because county government spent the last 4 years turning soaring revenues from the housing bubble into huge spending increases. Never again. The commissioners have to implement rules preventing any future budget from growing in size by more than the rate of population growth plus inflation without a unanimous vote of the commissioners.

6) Mandate Sunsets on all Tax Increases

While tax increases are unnecessary to fixing the current budget woes, if the county commissioners do use them, it’s imperative they have a sunset provision. Any tax increase must come with language such that after two years rates will revert to the current levels, adjusted for constant yield. Indeed, this requirement should be made a requirement for all future tax increases.

While any of these six common sense principles are a useful tool for budget reform, taken together they will be a powerful force for fiscal discipline and a strong guarantee against finding ourselves in the same situation again.

I look forward to seeing the county commissioners’ budget and hope to see all six principles as core components of it.

KEVIN WATERMAN

Centreville