Heather Curtis

WMAL.com

WASHINGTON — (WMAL) It’s official. Property taxes in Montgomery County will go up 8.7 percent in the fiscal year 2017, which starts in July, after the Montgomery County Council unanimously approved the $5.3 billion FY17 budget Thursday morning.

This increase will cost the average property owner, whose home is valued at $446,441, $326 more a year more.

“I regret that we had to do it, but there was no other way to move us forward,” said Council President Nancy Floreen.

Floreen said the only way to decrease class sizes, hire more teachers, give teachers and county employees raises and do construction at schools is to increase property taxes above the charter limit, or the amount allowed by law.

She said some residents have told the council they’re concerned they won’t be able to afford the increase and will have to move, while others said the increase will help advance the county’s needs.

“Absent a significant economic recovery that far exceeds expectations, this will mean potentially severe budget reductions next year because we have nearly exhausted all revenue possibilities to accommodate ongoing Council spending increases in this budget,” County Executive Ike Leggett wrote in a letter after the council tentatively approved the tax increase last week.

Floreen agreed there would be no new revenue sources in the future because she vowed she would not vote for such a hefty tax increase in the next few years.

She stopped short of saying there would be cuts in the future but said the council included compensation adjustments in this budget to limit the pressure on next year’s budget.

“I don’t see cuts. I see them increasing even more taxes because that’s all they know how to do,” said attorney Robin Ficker who successfully petitioned for the law requiring the council to cast a unanimous vote to increase taxes beyond the charter limit or rate of inflation.

Ficker pointed out there was no cost-of-living increase in social security in 2016, and many residents aren’t getting raises.

Floreen said homeowners will get a break because the increased investment in schools will raise property values. Real estate broker Donna Evers told WMAL last week property values would only increase if the money invested in schools is effective in improving the quality of education.

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