From the Desk of Former Mayor Malinda Miles

It has been two years since I decided to remove myself from the political scene in Mount Rainier, MD, Prince George's County, and the State of Maryland. Holding the lofty position of Mayor was such a great honor, but as the years flew by, I realized that it was time to do something else -- get a life.! I did, and still continue to provide resources to the residents through The Front Porch Ministries (TFPM). Real people pass through The Front Porch Ministries weekly. LIFE is good.

Wednesday, April 30, 2014

BUDGET PREPARATIONS WELL UNDER WAY

Budget Preparations – Mayor and Council are hard at work on FY2015 budget. Lots of needs and limited funds. Mayor and Council are struggling to keep and/or increase the level of services to the community while not raising taxes. This is a very hard task to accomplish when the needs are so great.

Some of the proposals on the table include, not hiring an assistant City manager, hiring an assistant City manager with 60% economic responsibilities and 40% management responsibilities; hiring an assistant City manager with responsibilities for managing code enforcement (certification in code enforcement required); hiring an economic development specialist to concentrate on development of the downtown area, and raising taxes to fund that position. There is also discussion on the table about raising taxes to generate much needed revenue, and to limit the amount of money that might be used out of the contingency fund to balance the budget and come up with the funds to cover some of the stated needs. No final decisions have been reached, and further discussion is scheduled for the next work session, May 6, 2014.

The Constant Yield Tax Rate hearing was held on Tuesday, April 22, 2014. No one from the general public attended. The Constant Yield Tax Rate for 2015 $0.86. The constant yield tax rate is the tax rate that a jurisdiction would have to impose in order to obtain the same amount of property tax revenue in fiscal year 2015 as it received in fiscal year 2014. If a jurisdiction plans to set a tax rate higher than the constant yield rate, the jurisdiction must advertise the tax increase and hold a public hearing before setting the tax rate for fiscal 2015. Municipalities are exempt from these requirements if maintaining the same tax rate would raise less than $25,000 more revenue in fiscal 2015 than in fiscal 2014. This last sentence does not apply to Mount Rainier.

	7/1/2014	7/1/2014	7/1/2014	7/1/2015	7/1/2014
Jurisdiction	Net Assessable Real Property Base	Tax Rate	Potential Revenue	Net Assessable Real Property Base	CYTR
Mount Rainier	337,420,516	x 0.86 =	2,901,816 ÷	340,586,039	= 0.852

The City is facing the same crisis that all of you are facing with the rising cost of oil, gasoline, electric, health care, retirement, and general maintenance and upkeep. We are striving to become more energy efficient. We are going green when we can, and we are pushing composing and recycling as major goals that residents can help us achieve. (NOTE: If you need a composting bin, please contact Public Works. The first batch went quickly, and a new order has been placed.) These rising costs are also going to impact our budget, and our ability to respond quickly and efficiently to the needs of our City.

I invite you to take a moment to get a copy of our current budget, to really see what your mayor and council is working with to efficiently and effectively run our City. Let your Ward representative hear from you and your concerns regarding this year’s budget, tax cuts, tax raises or whatever else you have on your mind. The window of opportunity will soon be gone, and the new budget will be implemented on July 1, 2014. At this juncture, the Mayor is opposed to raising taxes to create an economic development specialist or to delete the assistant manager position that has functioned as assistant manager, economic development and overseer for code enforcement and other activities in the City, including road construction, emergencies and other duties as required to meet the needs of the City.

On that note, I am taking this opportunity to thank Mr. Michael Jackson for all of the work that he provided to the City as Assistant Manager for the past six or more years. Over those years, he wrote grants, served as the City’s IT person, website developer, provided oversight for code enforcement, editor of the City’s Newsletter, and a host of other job functions that were assigned from time to time. Michael landed a wonderful job at the Smithsonian, and started working there last week. He will be missed, and no matter what the budget decision is, he cannot be replaced. Thank you Michael for your hard work and dedication to Mount Rainier.

Mayor Malinda Miles

As a long-time resident of Mount Rainier and a homeowner, it is important to me that municipal government be inclusive of all of its residents. It is equally important that information be communicated through all possible channel so that residents can get involved. It is also important for residents to volunteer and serve on committees, commissions, boards and task forces. I truly believe that municipal government is the government closes to the people, and as such should be easily accessible. This BLOG is another effort to reach out to the residents of Mount Rainier.