Montgomery County Council at-large candidates discussed the county budget and taxes among other issues affecting residents during a forum Saturday, May 16.
Montgomery Community Media CEO Jasmine White moderated the event at Mt. Calvary Baptist Church in Rockville. All participating candidates were Democrats. The Republican candidate was invited but did not attend.
Taxes and Budget
Following Friday’s budget vote from the county council, here is what candidates had to say about budgeting and local income, property and commercial taxes (in alphabetical order by candidates’ last names):
Fatmata Barrie: “Raising taxes at this point is not good for those of us who live in this county.”
Josie Caballero: It was a “good step” to bring a progressive taxation system to the county but it’s not there yet. “We have to raise the income tax on the people who make the most and give the tax break to the people who have the least.”
Marc Elrich: The council was “very upset” with his tax increase proposal, but then agreed “they would have to raise taxes.” He wants to be able to raise commercial property taxes, in order to get more revenue from commercial property, not residents.
Dana Gassaway: “We’re going to have to [raise taxes] eventually, that’s just the way it is,” but also “We have to think about keeping money circulating in this county.”
Scott Goldberg: “Asking the same number of people to pay more taxes is unsustainable. We need more people to pay taxes.”
Hamza Khan: “We are not incentivizing the growth we need for young families to choose Montgomery County in a country that is getting older and there are fewer kids.”
Matt Losak: He is not “anti-tax” — “The idea that we don’t have to pay for our government and our services or that the government is an obstacle to our freedom and prosperity is simply not true.”
Jim McNulty: “We need jobs, we need housing and we need to make sure that we’re not putting obstacles in the way so that the people that want to invest in our community are able to do that.” He mentioned permitting reform to make it easier to build housing.
Jeremiah Pope: “I am not for any new property tax increases. What I am for is a more balanced approach, we need a balanced council, we need a balanced approach.”
Laurie-Anne Sayles: “We need to be fiscally disciplined or we are going to continue to tax our residents out of Montgomery County.” Her priority if re-elected is to do “zero-based budgeting,” noting fraud, waste and abuse happens at the local level.
Prabu Selvam: “One thing I propose is a senior property tax credit revision to allow greater benefits to seniors.”
Karla Silvestre: “Growing the commercial tax base is part of the solution to get us out of our financial crisis, but we’re going to do that by bringing more businesses to Montgomery County, by making it easier to do business in Montgomery County.”
Steve Solomon: In recent years the county’s spending has grown more than what many counties’ entire budgets are across the nation — “We have to control that somehow and encourage businesses to say ‘hey we can survive in this county’ because it’s not really happening right now.”
Lelia True: “This crisis that we’re in is not a one-year crisis. It’s a multi-year crisis, and we might have to raise taxes in the short-term to make sure that we can cover critical expenses… we also have to look at what we’re spending.”
MCM will post the full forum video this week.
The Primary Election is June 23.
Watch Clips From Candidates’ Opening Statements:
Statements from council at-large candidates at Mt. Calvary Baptist Church – forum goes until 4 p.m. @mymcmedia pic.twitter.com/TnOFUtXx4c
— Maryam Shahzad (@maryam_mcm) May 16, 2026
The Race
There are four council at-large seats to elect.
Only one at-large incumbent — Sayles — is running for re-election. Two incumbents — Evan Glass and Will Jawando — are running for County Executive. Shebra Evans is a temporary at-large member filling in for the vacancy left by Gabe Albornoz — she agreed she would not run for the seat as part of taking the position.
Elrich, the current County Executive, is running for a council seat after voters decided in 2024 to limit the county executive to two terms instead of three.
McNulty and Silvestre are also currently elected officials. McNulty is a Gaithersburg City Councilmember. Silvestre is a member of the Board of Education for Montgomery County Public Schools.
Losak is the Executive Director of the Montgomery County Renters Alliance.
Budget Background
County Councilmembers approved a $7.9 billion operating budget by a vote of 9-2. Councilmembers Andrew Friedson and Dawn Luedtke voted against it.
The council voted to increase funds for Montgomery County Public Schools by $143 million, but still not the full $179 million increase requested from the school system. It was a straw vote and the final vote will be held on Thursday, May 21.
The council did not raise property taxes but eliminated the Income Tax Offset Credit (ITOC). About 200,000 homeowners will lose the $692 deduction from their property bills, according to Elrich.
In a split vote, councilmembers approved a progressive income tax structure — which will raise the tax for those who make more than $150,000 but cuts income taxes for those making less.
