In Montgomery, 2006 Budget Brings Hostilities Into Open
By Tim Craig
Washington Post Staff Writer
Monday, May 9, 2005
When members of the Montgomery County Council air their differences, the debate often is intense but seldom lacks civility or collegiality.
Tensions over the 2006 budget are starting to unravel that tradition, producing an uncharacteristic level of sniping, factionalism and hardball politicking. Some members who ran together in 2002 now barely speak to one another. Spats usually played out in private have gone public. Dueling memos fly between members' offices.
With a deadline of the end of the month and 2006 elections drawing closer, the council is deeply divided over how and where to cut County Executive Douglas M. Duncan's proposed $3.6 billion budget. The key question is how much property tax relief to offer residents while upholding the county's reputation for generous spending. Duncan's budget includes a 2-cent cut in the property tax rate, but if approved, property tax revenue still would exceed a charter limit by a record $67 million.
Many members believe Duncan's tax cut isn't deep enough. Beyond that, there is little agreement.
"Our nerves are frayed. There is tension, absolutely," said council member George L. Leventhal (D-At Large). "We could have done this in a collegial way. We could have worked together and provided real tax relief and spending restraint, but instead we got council members eking out headlines at the expense of other council members."
At the end of Tuesday's hearing on the capital budget -- which does not affect the operating budget or the charter limit on taxes -- council President Tom Perez (D-Silver Spring) warned the audience that their elementary schools may not get all-day kindergarten programs if $70 million is cut from Duncan's budget.
Council member Phil Andrews (D-Gaithersburg) responded that Perez wasn't telling the truth. Leventhal then shouted at Andrews to produce his plan for bringing spending in line with the charter amendment.
Other years have brought contentious budget debates. The severe recession of the early 1990s forced massive spending cuts and produced rowdy protests.
What makes this year unusual is that there is no fiscal crisis.
Booming real estate values have left the county flush with property tax revenue. Even if the council triples Duncan's proposed tax rate reduction to adhere to the charter cap -- which limits tax revenue collection to the previous year's total plus inflation and the value of new construction -- the 2006 budget will be at least $170 million larger than the current year's spending plan.
"There is more sniping than usual because the problem this year is a political one, not a financial one," said council member Michael Subin (D-At Large), who now jokingly refers to the council building as the "loony bin" because of all the political anxiety.
To exceed the charter limit, seven of the nine members must agree on a budget. Right now, there is no consensus.
"I don't see an endgame for getting seven votes," said council member Marilyn Praisner (D-Eastern County).
It is a dilemma that Duncan, who is seeking the Democratic nomination for governor in 2006, all but dumped on the council this year.
By proposing a budget that council analysts say is the most generous in memory, Duncan gambled that residents wouldn't care about exceeding the charter cap on property taxes for the fourth consecutive year. Council members, all of whom have indicated they either will seek reelection next year or run for another office, must decide whether Duncan's funding of public education, labor contracts, social services and public safety is worth a possible voter backlash against rising property taxes.
And after staying out of the budget debate for most of the spring, Duncan is stoking tensions by encouraging various interest groups to speak out in support of his budget.
"I would like to remind you that nothing in the budget is safe," Lori Gillen, Duncan's special projects coordinator, wrote to 1,000 community activists last week.
"We are on the razor's edge between competing constituencies," said council member Howard A. Denis (R-Potomac-Bethesda).
Divisions over how to proceed appear to have led to the disintegration of the council majority that Duncan helped elect in 2002 by raising hundreds of thousands of dollars.
Known as the End Gridlock slate, council members Steven A. Silverman (D-At Large), Michael Knapp (D-Upcounty), Nancy Floreen (D-At Large), Subin and Leventhal were unified in their support for the proposed intercounty connector.
And while they were never a rubber stamp for Duncan, the group generally was receptive to his economic development policies and rarely picked fights.
With the connector no longer on the council's agenda and Duncan not expected to be play an active role in county politics next year, the budget debate has exposed significant rifts among members.
Floreen and Knapp have joined Praisner and longtime Duncan opponent Andrews in pushing for compliance with the charter, which would require a 7-cent property tax rate reduction but also as much as $70 million in spending cuts.
Silverman and Leventhal have teamed with Denis and Perez, whom Duncan worked to defeat in 2002, to offer more moderate spending and property tax cuts that would preserve Duncan's initiatives to expedite all-day kindergarten, hire more police officers and boost health care for the poor and uninsured.
No matter how the budget is sorted out, it is clear that tensions will carry into next year's election. Most members say they have no plans to run on another slate next year.
"There are too many issues going on -- personal and philosophical," Subin said.
Leventhal, who has developed a rivalry with Floreen, said, "I would rather do individual arrangements with individual friends. I don't want to see another End Gridlock."
Other members have staked out their own positions. Subin initially said he wanted to abide by the tax cap this year, but last week he came to the conclusion there was no way to do it without deep cuts to the school system. He said that was not an option.
On Thursday, Knapp became the first member to produce a plan for achieving the charter limit. It calls for freezing all spending except for education, public safety, labor contracts and health care.
Silverman said he expects a consensus to form after a series of behind-the-scenes meetings in which council members caucus and lobby one another.
"This is the first time in my seven years on the council that there has been clear factions at budget time," he said.