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.
“Bottom line is they need to get spending under control here in Montgomery County,” Reardon Sullivan, Chair of the Montgomery County Republican Party, told MCM on Tuesday. The petition seeks to a change the county charter to limit county spending to the Consumer Price Index (CPI) for the previous year. It needs 10,000 signatures in order to qualify for a ballot question in 2026.
“Everybody wants to make sure that we have the best education possible, that it’s as efficient as possible,” he said. “The question is: is it as efficient as possible, are we getting the return on the investment, are we getting the best bang for the buck?”
“What Montgomery County constantly expects is that we are going to just absorb whatever they pass our way, and what they are doing is digging deeper and deeper into our pockets every single time,” Stacey Sauter, executive board member of the Montgomery County Republican Party, told MCM.
On Tuesday morning, councilmembers and school leaders announced a new plan to pass the Montgomery County Public Schools (MCPS) budget without a tax increase. After the announcement, residents were still able to testify on the tax increase proposed by County Executive Marc Elrich to fund the county’s budget.
In the latest update, on Wednesday, county councilmembers voted unanimously to reject the income tax increase.
