The Calvert County Recorder reports that the Calvert County Board of Commissioners have asked all local agencies to join the county in lobbying against the proposed teacher pension shift onto local jurisdictions. At last Tuesday’s Board of County Commissioners meeting, Commissioner Susan Shaw led the rally cry, urging any entity that receives funding from the county to write letters to members of the General Assembly.
“Every jurisdiction is doing everything they can to notify everybody they can that if we are forced to take on teacher pensions … it will crowd out all other expenses,” Shaw said, adding that the consensus at MACo is that the state expects local jurisdictions to raise income and property taxes to make up for the shifting costs and that the state currently believes counties are “under taxing our citizens,” or that the taxes are not as high as they should be. “They’re trying to really pressure us to raise taxes at the local level in all 24 jurisdictions.”
…“The bottom line is it’s irresponsible. … It threatens our standard of living,” Shaw said.
Commissioners’ President Gerald W. “Jerry” Clark (R) said he thinks it’s important to let local agencies know that even though the county previously told them it would keep their funding levels as is, “their funding could actually be cut if this is forced down on the counties.”
