The Goals

We hope to provide information to help citizens in Taneytown participate in their government.  We cannot be a nation Of the People, By the People and For the People if the People are not keeping abreast of what their representatives are doing.   If you have questions or input, please feel free to contact us!

​

​

​

​

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

​

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

January Council Meeting 2017 ABOUT WATER/SEWER

 

The council proves at each regular meeting that the less the people know, the more they like it.   Asking questions is a good way to draw out some public, recorded on TV, information.  Councilman Frazier is knowledgeable about government dealings and finance, and some may not follow the importance of his line of questioning.

​

Let's translate.

​

Monday night, January 9th, it was revealed through questions regarding Meade’s Crossing, which still has 366 un-built units, that the developer was “let off the hook” for paying up-front for the Pump Station. 

 

The Mayor and City Manager say the developer will pay with the hook-up fees as homes are built.   That is true, but the financial burden was shifted to the water/sewer paying Taneytown citizens when the pump station became the city of Taneytown’s obligation.  Taneytown borrowed to pay for the pump station instead of the developer. Therefore the citizens are paying now instead of the developer.  More debt service equals higher water/sewer bills.  Had the developer paid that bill, there would be zero increase in debt service which means lower water/sewer bills.

 

Additionally, in the original agreement, the developer would have received credits each time a home was built until the credits were equal to the cost of the pump station, according to the Mayor.  Since the town took on the debt for that capital project, the people carry the cost through the water/sewer bill until that debt is paid in full. 

 

Now when building is picking back up and those $14,400.00 hook-up fees are being collected, the city manager has recommended and the majority of the council agreed, not to put those fees collected towards paying off that debt, but to save those dollars for future capital projects.  Hmmm, it seems to me that the people are left holding the bag again.  Let’s use the first fees in to pay off the current debt and get the water/sewer fees down a little.

​

These discussions in full view of the people help the citizens to understand the choices made and costs incurred.  Council members should be interested in this information so decisions that are made now can be most equitable.  

 

The new found $2 million dollars of surplus in the water/sewer fund is mostly a result of new hook-up fees.  Let’s accelerate the decrease in water/sewer rates now, knowing there is more from where that came.​​

 

The Council voted 4 - 1 for the budget which implemented the tax and water/sewer rate increase. 

Only Frazier voting No. 

 

Water/Sewer rates, despite the outcry from residents in the past few years that they cannot afford the high rates, were raised again. 

 

All ideas put forth to reduce rates have been rejected by the majority of the Council.

​

Davenport study shows water/sewer rates could have been lowered

​

AT the DECEMBER workshop and regular monthly meeting of the Mayor and Council we learned what Davenport found in reviewing the numbers in the Water and Sewer Fund.

​

ARE YOU READY?  The citizen's learned that over the last couple of years the water/sewer enterprise fund has accumulated an additional $2 MILLION dollars.  That's right, a $2 MILLION surplus - additional dollars in the savings account.

​

You may be thinking the same thing as some of us in the room that evening.  Why then did the council raise the water/sewer rates for the last two years?

​

Well, the talk was all about how should the town use this new founded surplus.  To pay down debt? to make cash capital expenditures so as not to increase debt?

​

By reducing rates by 3%?  Ok we will take what we can get, but you may recall the majority of the council just raised the rate this year by 3.4%.  Sounds like one of those sales where everything is marked up 15% for a few weeks before the big sale where customers get a 10% discount.

 

After much questioning Davenport finally gave us a figure of about $120,000.00 less collected if rates are cut by 3%.   At that rate, how about we cut the sewer rate in half as Councilman Frazier suggested, oh about two years ago.  That would be good relief for the citizens; a solid two years. 

 

Meanwhile, as development moves forward, 1. more hook fees are collected and more people pay in monthly.   2. The Council can look for more equitable ways for calculating rates, 3. the capital debt service can be optimized by refinancing and

4. debt payoff timing can be compared to capital project expenditure timing so that expenditures are equal or less than current expenditures.  5. Then the Council can explore other revenue producing or savings ideas such as sale of excess water clean and gray, or 6. installation of renewable energy generation to lower power bills.

 

Perhaps, then the town will be able to sustain adequate revenues with lower rates and discover ways to bridge future potential gaps should revenues actually decline. 

​

Wait a minute, that sounds like the ideas presented by Councilman Frazier several months ago to be incorporated with a revolving fund that would have (and still can if the right decisions are made ) given the water/sewer payers, that's Taneytown citizens and businesses, RELIEF.  Hmmm.

​

Looks like the Davenport study proved out the idea of a revolving fund where all revenues generated by the enterprise fund go into a savings account and are used to support the total expenditures of the enterprise fund.  In the last two years this $2 Million would have offset the 1.8 Million cut in revenues generated by the suggested 50% reduction of the sewer bill.

​

Certainly warrants a second look!

​

As the Davenport group raved about how well the City was doing financially by raising the water/sewer rates over the past few years; the question still remained: How well are the citizens of Taneytown doing with the raised rates over the the past few years?

​

Unfortunately, some of the citizens are no longer here to answer that question.  They have made good on their threat to move if something was not done about those water/sewer rates.

​

Water/Sewer rates CAN be lowered.  Vote for candidates who will pledge to do just that in the spring election!

​

 

The Majority of the Council and Planning and Zoning pulled a quick one on the Citizens of Taneytown

​

At the last meeting of the Mayor and Council it was announced that the Planning and Zoning Commission voted unanimously to approve a new Pot-grower to come to town. Some question whether the process was legal.

​

This is the bottom line:  The former site plan that was approved for a company that was not chosen by the Cannabis Commission to do business in Maryland, was SOLD to a company that was.  It would seem that a new entity would have to go through the process of site plan review by starting at step one with new reviews and public input.  Instead, the new company promised to follow the same site plan and was quietly welcomed in.

​

Perhaps the Taneytown Council should take the stand as was suggested in other discussions, that growing and selling Marijuana is against the Federal law and therefore they will follow the Federal law and just say NO to marijuana growers in Taneytown.

​

President-elect Trump says he will enforce the laws of the land.  Obama has drug prosecutors taking no action against marijuana growers and distributors even though it is classified such that it is illegal to grow or sell.  Obama doesn't seem to understand the term illegal, but Trump is a different story.  States Attorney DeLeonardo and Sheriff DeWees have committed to arrest if Federal Prosecutors will prosecute. 

​

Write, call and email the Mayor and Council asking them to follow the Federal laws on growing and selling marijuana and help keep Taneytown from going to POT!

​

​

​

​​​​​​Below is some information from a power point which was presented to the Council.  (A copy of the entire power point can be sent to you if you email us)  Still the Majority was not swayed to rescind their letter of support for a grower to locate in Taneytown.  Vigliotti and Frazier voted NO to growers, processors or dispensaries in Taneytown.

​

MYTH:  NO ONE HAS EVER DIED FROM USING MARIJUANA

​

•Daily pot users have a 30% higher risk of injuries.

•

•That pot can cause accidents is not surprising, since marijuana has been shown to degrade short-term  memory, concentration, judgment, and coordination of complex tasks including  driving.

•

•There have been numerous reports of pot-related accidents -- some of  them fatal, belying the  myth that no one has ever died from marijuana.

•

•One survey of 1,023 emergency room trauma patients in Baltimore found that fully 34.7% were under the influence of marijuana, more even than alcohol (33.5%).

•

•Accidents are the number one hazard of moderate pot use. In addition, of course, the psychoactive effects of cannabis can have many other adverse effects on performance, school work, and productivity.

​

The Planning and Zoning Committee must bring forth a proposal to limit where growers can locate as well as processors and dispensaries.

​

​

​

Taxes this year 2019, will increase when assessments go up.   The Town has over $10Million in surpluses.   They won't reveal how much revenue came in with new water/sewer hook ups; it's not relevant to the Budget they say.

​

The new increase amounts only to about a penny, but I say, let the people keep their penny, especially since there is no talk of a water/sewer rate decrease. 

​

A penny they say is about $75,000.00.  Let's NOT hire a 2nd IT person, buy two cameras ($500.00 a piece), connect the meeting room directly to the Community Media Center like Mt. Airy (another $500.00 or so) and Mr. Dennis will have more time to do other things besides run the cameras for meetings. Let the Taneytown Citizens keep their penny per thousand!  (constant yield)   Every little bit helps!

​

 

TAXES INCREASED IN 2017 budget.  Though the rate may have stayed the same, assessments increased raising total taxes per household and the $329,000.00 expense that was transferred to the water/sewer enterprise fund for salaries was not returned to the tax payer, but spent.

 

The budget was passed in a 4 - 1 vote.  Frazier voting No due to the unnecessary increase in water/sewer rates and the increase in spending.