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From the Desk of
County Commissioner Blaine Young

(2/2014) Facts Do Matter!

The Blaine Young Board of County Commissioners restored the Frederick County Deputy Sheriffs pay scale after being frozen by the Gardner/Gray Board.

The Blaine Young Board of County Commissioners created a new pay scale for Frederick County firefighters after experiencing lawsuits filed under the Gardner/Gray Board and witnessing all time low morale among our first responders.

The Blaine Young Board of County Commissioners has streamlined the size and operations of Frederick County Government by reducing it by 16% with very little to no impact on services. The Gardner/Gray Board approved the largest amount of budgeted full time personal in the history of Frederick County.

The Blaine Young Board of County Commissioners have been able to restore pay raises and do reclassifications to Frederick County Government employees after years of recession and major state funding cuts to local governments. The Gardner/Gray Board froze pay raises of County employees and suspended the reclassification process.

The Blaine Young Board of County Commissioners has held the Board of Education accountable on spending while maintaining funding for Maintenance of Effort for teacher salaries and providing funding for expanded infrastructure and technology for Frederick County Public Schools. The Gardner/Gray Board previously wrote blank checks to the Board of Education with no demands for accountability.

The Blaine Young Board of County Commissioners has restored strong and effective leadership at Winchester Hall, as opposed to David Gray voluntarily conceding the Board Presidency to Jan Gardner.

The Blaine Young Board of County Commissioners restored $1,000,000 in funding to Frederick Community College that had been cut by the Gardner/Gray Board.

The Blaine Young Board of County Commissioners restored funding to the volunteer firefighters in Frederick County that had been cut by the Gardner/Gray Board, and provided an incentive fund of almost $1,000,000 to benefit our volunteers.

The Blaine Young Board of County Commissioners FINALLY resolved the longstanding water crises in the Town of Rosemont, after years of acrimony and litigation between them Brunswick. The Gardner/Gray did not want to get involved and help resolve the issue.

The Blaine Young Board of County Commissioners has repaired the relationships between the County and our 12 municipalities. Under the Gardner / Gray Board municipal relationships were at their worst and lowest in the history of Frederick County. The Gardner/Gray Board provided little to no assistance or cooperation with our towns and cities, establishing double taxation on many residents and creating new fees which actually resulted in lawsuits being filed by the municipalities against the County.

The Blaine Young Board of County Commissioners restored the property rights of those who were down zoned for NO reason other than political by The Gardner/Gray Board.

The Blaine Young Board of County Commissioners has reduced or eliminated 202 fees and taxes. The Gardner / Gray Board never met a tax or fee that they did not like.

The Blaine Young Board of County Commissioners restored the AAA Bond Rating after being downgraded by the Gardner/Gray Board.

The Blaine Young Board of County Commissioners enacted a local senior property tax credit. The Gardner/Gray only gave it lip service.

The Blaine Young Board of County Commissioners have established perhaps the best working relationship between Frederick County and the City of Frederick with the following projects:

  • Improvements to Carroll Creek
  • Motter Street Bridge Improvement/reconstruction
  • Return of a an airport hanger at the Municipal Airport
  • Restored funding to the Community Action Agency
  • Eight Million Dollars to help finish Monocacy Boulevard
  • Year round homeless shelter in final planning stages
  • Immediately settled all pending lawsuits against our municipalities.
  • Eliminated unnecessary and punitive fees charged to all municipalities to send out the tax bills for our towns and cities.

The Blaine Young Board is not perfect. The Gardner/Gray Board believes they are.

Jan Garner and David Gray are right facts do matter! The Blaine young Board of County Commissioner which consists of Blaine Young, Paul Smith, Billy Shreve and Kirby Delauter made promises and have kept those promises. We listened to those that elected us and did what we said we would do. Have we made some mistakes? Of course we have as former County Commissioner President Mark Hoke once said to me "the only person who does not make a mistake is the person who does want to make a decision." The Blaine Young Board can admit we have made some mistakes. The Gardner/Gray can't admit the facts.

Read other articles from Frederick County Commissioners