'Change County Government As We Know It'

Montgomery County residents might avoid a tax increase for 2012, but at the cost of massive reductions or eliminations of iconic county services and amenities.

The $384.8 million preliminary operating budget for 2012 would eliminate the county’s parks department and planning commission while slashing or ending appropriations to the county library system, the Elmwood Park Zoo, Montgomery County Community College and other institutions.

The budget, which county commissioners on Wednesday approved for advertisement, “would change county government as we know it,” said James Maza, the Montco's deputy chief operating officer.

Average tax increase of $130 per homeowner would cover budget shortfall

If taxes are not increased, the county needs to cut expenditures to cover a $44.4 million budget shortfall. Eliminating the parks department would save more than $5 million per year and axing the planning commission would save an additional $2.6 million. Cuts in the appropriations to the county college, library system, zoo and other bodies would trim more than $6 million from the budget.

“I don’t want to eliminate the parks department or the planning commission. I don’t want the library to close,” said Commissioner Joe Hoeffel, who depicted himself as the proponent of a “middle ground” between the 28.6 percent tax increase favored by Commissioner James Matthews.

A 28.6 percent tax increase would translate to about $130 in additional annual taxes for the average county homeowner, according to Randy Schaible, the county’s chief financial officer.

Bruce Castor, the only county commissioner on the board when it is reconstituted in January, said he is open to increasing taxes, but said commissioners-elect Josh Shapiro and Leslie Richards had “boldly” campaigned on a promise to keep taxes at current levels.

“(Shapiro and Richards) may not have been fully cognizant of the financial situation. They may still not be fully cognizant of it,” Castor said. Neither Shapiro nor Richards attended the meeting.

“It may be that after the press reports about (the budget) that the people will call the commissioners-elect and call the three of us and say, ‘We want our library, we want our legal aid, we want all of these things,’” Castor said.

Cuts would “devastate” county library system

Kathleen Arnold-Yerger, executive director of the Montgomery County-Norristown Public Library, said losing the $2.36 million appropriation from the county “would be devastating” to the operation of the library’s five locations and its four Bookmobiles.

“We’re open six days a week right now," Arnold-Yerger said via telephone on Wednesday. "I don’t see how we could keep those hours. We wouldn’t be able to buy any new materials.”

According to Arnold-Yerger, the library’s annual budget is about $4 million - about $570,000 of which goes towards the purchase of books, media and other resources for patrons.

Wage freezes, courthouse security cuts possible

While the library is among services that would bear the brunt of the budget-cutting axe, no county department would emerge unscathed. Many departments would see their budgets cut 15 percent from 2011 levels, resulting in $16.6 million in savings. County employees’ wages would be frozen at current levels, providing another $4.2 million. Staffing in the sheriff’s department and in courthouse security would be reduced to save another $1 million.

Cutting the services as outlined in the preliminary budget “would be irresponsible and blind,” Matthews said.

Matthews cited the example of children who rely upon the library as their only information resource and means of accessing the Internet.

“Are we going to shut that down? ‘Yeah, they’re not my kids.’ We can’t take that attitude,” Matthews said.

Maza said the preliminary budget is “a platform on which to build a final budget."

The commissioners signaled an eagerness for public feedback on the question of raising taxes. Matthews repeatedly said the county’s taxes were among the lowest in the region for years and would remain so even if his proposed increase was adopted.

“This no-tax-increase budget shows the extreme pain to the county if we don’t raise taxes,” Hoeffel said.

The commissioners will meet at 10 a.m. Wednesday on the eighth floor of One Montgomery Plaza in Norristown.