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Citizen Activism Pays Off in MoCo

On May 13th, citizens like Mary Jane Perraut offered testimony at the Montgomery County Council meeting to protest against raising local taxes from 3.2% to 3.3% retroactively to fund the Montgomery County Public Schools (MCPS) budget.

According to an article at mymcm.org "Leaders of the Montgomery County Republican Party — who successfully limited the county executive to two terms instead of three by getting a question on the 2024 ballot — gathered at the council building in Rockville on Tuesday to collect signatures for another ballot petition, this one related to the county’s spending."

Many citizens representing Control MOCO Spending held “Stop the Spend” signs advertising the new ballot petition for November 2026 requiring 10,000 signatures. Control MOCO Spending wants to change the County Charter to ensure the Montgomery County Executive and County Council cannot increase spending above the prior year CPI.

The budget increase netted over a 7% increase - more than twice the CPI. Before the meeting, the council announced a reallocation of funds from the school system’s retiree health benefit trust to cover the school system’s $3.65 billion budget request for 2026.

The property tax rate and the local income tax rate held steady; however, this is a temporary solution to the spending problem. Hopefully, the county will look at ways to cut nonessential positions and expenses because citizens are speaking out against higher taxes. Many are hopeful the Council will initiate a volunteer task force to look at spending in the county to help identify ways to reduce spending.

Since the state budget was passed in Annapolis last April, Maryland county and local governments are feeling the pinch. The budget increased taxes and fees statewide while cutting funding to county and local governments, forcing those governments to raise revenues in their jurisdictions to cover the shortfall.

Citizens like Mary Jane are flexing their activist muscles to make a difference. MJ credits her successful testimony to the COS Action Maryland testimony training team. MJ's worries about the impact of ever-increasing and oppressive taxes will have on her children and grandchildren. This is why she is motivated to make a difference in her community.

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Created:	2025-05-14 16:13 GMT
Updated:	2025-05-23 07:00 GMT
Published:	2025-05-16 15:48 GMT
Converted:	2025-11-11 12:05 GMT
Change Author:	Maria Bedard
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