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Commissioners Dan Raley, top, and Tommy McKay — The Bay Net photos by Sean Rice |
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As part of the St. Mary’s County’s $180 million proposed budget for 2007, the Board of Commissioners voted to trim the local energy tax on fuel and electricity.
A proposal by Commission President Tommy McKay to cut property tax rates by 15 percent next fiscal year was defeated by the four other commissioners during budget deliberations Monday and Tuesday.
Instead the four other members chose to support a proposal from Commissioner Dan Raley to cut the energy tax in half, a measure that is nearly 10 times smaller than the request from McKay.
With McKay’s now dead proposal to issue a one-time cut to property taxes, county residents would have saved just under $10 million. Under the energy tax cut, residents will save an estimated $1.3 million.
The county is on track to have a staggering $20 million surplus next year, and in the budget proposal endorsed Tuesday by all commissioners except McKay, a majority of those funds will go toward paying for road construction and new schools.
During a spitting match between Raley and McKay on Monday, Raley argued it is better to fund projects with cash on hand, rather than straddle the county with debt.
McKay argued the county continues to collect more and more money each year.
No one mentioned during the argument, that using accumulated money on large projects pins the bills on past taxpayers who overpaid, while future taxpayers and new residents won’t contribute to the price of the coming projects.
The $180 2007 fiscal budget proposal will be discussed at a public hearing in late March. The 2007 budget year starts in July.