County Council’s rain tax repeal inspires supporters, opponents to rally

(Originally published in the East County Times, Vol. 21 No. 6 [Nov. 19, 2015], p. 2 and 6)
-By Emily Blackner-

At its Monday, Nov. 16 meeting, the Baltimore County Council voted unanimously in favor of a measure that will phase out the stormwater remediation fees, commonly referred to as the “rain tax,” over the next two years.

The move was preceded by rallies from organizers on both sides of the issue. On Saturday, Nov. 14, state Delegate Pat McDonough (R-7), a longtime rain tax opponent, held a victory party at Carson’s Creekside restaurant in Middle River to celebrate the pending repeal. Because the measure was co-sponsored by all seven Council members- a veto-proof majority- its passage was all but assured from the beginning.

“Both Democrats and Republicans on the County Council came together and as a result we have all seven of the council members voting against the rain tax,” McDonough announced.

Councilman David Marks (R-5) also stressed the bipartisan nature of the repeal effort.

“I want to recognize that this was a bipartisan effort and that my fellow east side councilmembers, Cathy Bevins and Todd Crandell, worked hard and took the lead on this issue.”

McDonough led the repeal campaign at the state level, speaking about the issue on his radio show- where he coined the term “rain tax” as a way to get people more inspired to join the fight- and speaking to local businesses to get grassroots support for the repeal effort. In fact, this “Stop the Rain Tax” campaign was kicked off in Carson’s three years ago, he recalled.

“Last year, I cosponsored a bill with the governor, and that bill at least changed the law,” he explained.

The state mandate for a dedicated fee was lifted, giving the counties flexibility in funding the required stormwater remediation projects.

“We still need to comply with all the environmental rules,” McDonough asserted. “It doesn’t change that, it just gets rid of the tax.”

He also criticized the fact that the most visible use of rain tax funds was the purchase of new street sweepers.

McDonough said he was proud of the success of the campaign.

“I felt the tax was unnecessary and very harmful to job creation and economic growth,” he explained.

Proponents of the fee cited environmental benefits and the need to clean and protect the Chesapeake Bay and its tributaries as they rallied in Patriot Plaza in front of the Council chambers on Monday before the vote.

Elaine Lutz of the Chesapeake Bay Foundation explained that the CBF was not supporting the measure to repeal the fee because no alternative funding sources have yet been identified to pay for the stormwater remediation projects currently funded by the fee.

“We would like the Council to reconsider this legislation until there’s something the Council, County Executive and the public can agree on,” she said. “Why rush through this process with no transparent, public plan for funding? There will be no relief for businesses for seven to eight months anyway.”

The Council, in submitting the bill, expressed its faith that the projects could be funded through other funding sources as they had been prior to the fee’s imposition in 2013.

“There’s a misconception that with this repeal, these projects won’t take place. They will; it’s just the funding source will be different,” Council Chair Cathy Bevins (D-6) said.

Marks told the crowd at McDonough’s rally, “These projects had been funded for years before the rain tax through the general fund.”

Lutz contends that the money in the general fund is not legally required to go towards remediation projects, as the “rain tax” funds were, so they could be diverted to other purposes.

She also pointed out that although the county has a significant budget surplus this year, that could change quickly.

“The general fund surplus is not reliable or consistent, so there’s no guarantee the money will be there,” she asserted. “Frankly, in many years past, any excess money has not gone to stormwater projects.”

Lutz and the other people at the rally, who included representatives from Blue Water Baltimore, the Green Towson Alliance, Interfaith Partners of the Chesapeake and more, led a chant of “Show me the money!” before filing into the Council chambers with their signs.

But the Council was not swayed by their presence.

“It feels good to get this done,” Bevins said after the meeting. “And it feels good to be a united Council and an independent Council.”

Councilman Todd Crandell (R-7), who was elected last year partly because of his pledge to repeal the fee, was the one to actually make the motion to move the bill to vote.

“I tried to zero out the rain tax when we voted on it in February and just couldn’t get it done, so I really wanted to be the member to move it forward and get it passed,” he said.

“I’m very pleased,” he continued. “It’s good to be on a Council that can discuss things and reach a compromise to produce results.”

The stormwater remediation fees, already reduced by a third by a bill passed with the County Executive’s support in February of this year, will be further reduced in two stages. For Fiscal Year 2017, the rates will be lowered to $17 per single family home and $31 per 1,000 square feet of impervious surface for non-residential properties. Then, the fee will be fully repealed effective July 1, 2017 (for Fiscal Year 2018).

Phasing out the fee will allow the county to adjust to the loss of revenue and find new funding sources for the projects required to meet the total maximum daily load (TMDLs) reductions for runoff pollutants mandated by the EPA and federal court order.

Bevins said that the county executive has until July 2016 to present his plan for funding the stormwater remediation projects. He has not discussed with the Council what those plans might be, she revealed.

County Executive Kamenetz declined to comment for this story.

Lutz, in her public comment to the Council following the vote, also turned her attention to Kamenetz, asking the Council, “I hope you’ll join me in convincing the county executive that this is money well spent.”

Szeliga officially launches US Senate campaign

(Originally published in the East County Times, Vol. 21 No. 5 [Nov. 12, 2015], page 8) - By Emily Blackner -

After months of buildup, on Tuesday, Nov. 10, state Delegate Kathy Szeliga (R-7) officially announced her candidacy for United States Senate in 2016.

“Isn’t it time for new voices in Washington, D.C.?” she asked the crowd of supporters, to enthusiastic agreement.

The 54-year-old Minority Whip is hoping to build on the statewide success of Larry Hogan in 2014’s gubernatorial race and win the seat currently occupied by the retiring Barbara Mikulski, a Democrat.

Tuesday's announcement puts Szeliga into a field that already includes two other Republicans and two Democrats.

“I want to serve the US Senate to champion those forgotten Americans who get up and work hard, pay the bills and raise their family,” she declared.

In her kick-off speech, Szeliga detailed her background as a working mom starting from the bottom with her husband, hitchhiking to work as a laborer and maid before becoming a housekeeping manager at a resort. She attended night school while her children were young to earn a degree in early childhood education from Towson University, and eventually used those skills to help in the family’s construction business.

“I wanted to take those life skills and put them to work fixing some problems that I saw,” she said, winning a seat in the House of Delegates in 2010.

With Hogan’s election and the new crop of state-level Republicans in Annapolis, “Things in Maryland seem to be getting better. Now my focus shifts to Washington,” she concluded.

As senator, Szeliga said she would focus on improving quality of life- for example, by updating roads, upgrading airplane technology and making healthcare more affordable- improving national security through making the US more of a global leader on that front, and improving the nation’s schools.

“I have a little different angle on that,” she said of education reform. “I believe our schools have become factories that turn out kids who think their only future is a four-year college.”

Szeliga would work to expand vocational education through trade schools and degree programs, taking the example of eastside schools like Eastern Tech. However, she opposes the Common Core and would instead incentivize high schools to begin vocational training programs.

This would also help keep urban male youth in school and off the street, she said.

“I’m not naive. I don’t think I’m going to ride in on a white horse and fix everything by myself,” she said, but she believes her experience working across the aisle in Annapolis gives her an edge in accomplishing those goals.

“There used to be a time when we could agree to disagree, and do it agreeably. We didn’t have to call each other names and denigrate others because of their ideas,” she said. “That’s the kind of atmosphere we have in Annapolis. I might disagree with you, but we can still have a drink together.”

Szeliga says that as a working mom, she became very good at multitasking, which will allow her to pursue this Senate seat without shirking her duties as House Minority Whip. Her experience in Annapolis has also given her qualifications beyond those of the other Republicans in the field, attorney Chrys Kefalas and Navy veteran teacher Anthony Seda, she said.

“I’ve been elected to office; I’m the highest-ranking Republican woman in Maryland,” she asserted. “I have a built-in campaign structure with the 50 house members and 15 senate members, most of whom are supporting me.”

Several of those caucus members were on hand to support her at the kick-off, including House Minority Leader Nich Kipke, District 6 Delegate bob Long and District 8 Delegate John Cluster.

“I think she’s the right person for this job at this time. She’s the kind of person we need in D.C.,” Cluster told the East County Times.

Other supporters included Szeliga’s mentor and “fairy godmother” Ellen Sauerbrey and Anne Arundel County Executive Steve Shuh.

“She is a Republican. She is a mainstream conservative who believes the rightful role of government is a limited government,” Shuh declared. “Government has gotten too big, too distant and too gridlocked,” Szeliga declared. “Yet DC still finds the time to chip away at our liberties, spending more of our dollars while driving up the debt. But I think I’m a commonsense citizen legislator.”