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Prince George's County Executive Jack B. Johnson (D), in defense of his controversial proposed property tax increase, said the county cannot rely on federal funds from President Obama's economic stimulus package to offset its $132 million deficit.

"People want an easy way out – and the easy way they believe is a stimulus," Johnson said Feb. 11 during a meeting with District 5 residents at police headquarters in Hyattsville.

However, hundreds of counties and municipalities across the country will vie for stimulus funds divvied up by the federal government, and "we are in the same position that so many jurisdictions are in," Johnson said.

Johnson has drafted two bills that would temporarily raise property taxes and redistribute transit taxes to generate money in lieu of slashing school budget expenses and laying off necessary police officers and firefighters.

The property tax increase would allow county property assessments to increase by 10 percent each year for the next two years. Currently, county property assessments can only increase by 5 percent each year.

Under the proposed tax increase to 10 percent, homeowners of a $246,000 house would pay about $235 more next year than they are currently paying, or about $20 more a month. If the increase were raised to only 5 percent, homeowners would pay about $10 more a month than they currently paying.

Johnson said during the meeting his office has calculated the increase from 5 percent to 10 percent as about $7.50 a month, a number spokesman Jim Keary reaffirmed when contacted Friday.

Suitland resident Elsie Jacobs, president of the Suitland Civic Association, said she and the neighbors she has spoken with fully support the tax hikes.

"What is $7.50 a month?" she said. "I would pay $10."

The second bill would permit the county to use the current transit tax, currently reserved for public transportation, to fund county school buses, which currently cost the county $90 million per year, Johnson said.

The county's original deficit estimate, which took into account $30 million in cuts of state funding, was estimated at $102 million. But, after Gov. Martin O'Malley (D) cut the county's budget by $60 million, the deficit climbed to $132 million.

Newly confirmed Police Chief Roberto Hylton said at the meeting if the deficit money is not raised, he will have to drastically cut expenses and reduce staff.

Eighty percent of the budget goes to school and public safety funding, Keary said Friday.

"The places that will take the biggest cuts are the ones that got the biggest budgets," he said.

All departments, including the police and fire departments, are currently making contingency plans in the event that neither bill is passed and additional revenue cannot be raised, Keary said.

"They are working together to see what they can do to make projected cuts without impacting service," Keary said, " and that's a fine line."

Upper Marlboro resident Dorothy Carolyn Lowe, president of the Williamsburg Estate Citizens Association, does not oppose the tax increase but said the county should look into exploring other creative options and tap into its base of citizen volunteers.

"The budget dilemma we find ourselves in is not black and white," Lowe said, adding that the county government should not use scare tactics of compromised public safety to force residents to support the taxes.

However, Johnson remained firm on the need for increased funding, replying, "You cannot volunteer yourself out of $130 million."

The police department is the second-largest financial burden on the county after schools, and before the fire department, Hylton said, adding he would be required to reduce the size of the civilian staff and there would be fewer police officers to patrol the streets.

Keary remembers when the police department staffing was cut by more than 100 officers from 2000 to 2003.

During that period, crime increased in the county by 35 percent, he said, adding that Johnson and Hylton are working to make sure that mistake is not repeated.

Johnson and Hylton agreed Feb. 11 that a cut in the police staffing would be unacceptable and would hamper the progress of police.

"We cannot afford to cut police," Johnson said. "We cannot afford to gamble with people's lives."