More News

Questions that need to be answered anytime not just during the current budget "crisis":

Ô Can salaries and expenses for county government department directors, executive and County Council members be reduced?

Ô Can arts and entertainment enterprises prove they are truly wanted by becoming self-sufficient without government subsidies?

Ô Can prevailing wage laws be ended for workers on county government projects so that contractors and their employees can negotiate wage terms on their own?

Ô Can Montgomery County golf courses, tennis courts and other park facilities not related to nature maintenance be privatized?

Ô Can recreation centers, dog parks, arenas and kindred developments be privatized and freed from government subsidies?

Ô Can Montgomery College tuition be raised so that the college is self-supporting?

Ô Can vacancies in non-school-based school system administrative positions be left unfilled?

Ô Can tax credits be used for volunteer fire and rescue companies so that they can assume all such county services?

Ô Can the county allow affordable housing development on government-owned library, recreation center and office building sites?

A "yes" to all these questions will bring county government closer to living within its means without raising taxes.

Gerald Schneider, Kensington