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From the Mayor
Hello, Thurmont.
The Board of Commissioners met on Monday night to discuss the upcoming budget. As I’ve said, now that we have identified areas of concern regarding the sewer system we have to fix
them. This potentially includes a $3.00 increase in user fees for water and sewer. I told everyone that these fees would be coming to pay for needed infrastructure repairs and we
have little choice. To do nothing to continue to fix the system now that we know about problems is shirking our responsibilities as elected officials and putting off problems today
for another Board to deal with. We have applied for grants with the Board of County Commissioners, the Maryland Department of the Environment, our State Legislators, and our Federal
Legislators. All have told us that we must apply through the State (MDE) or have not replied at all. We have applied through MDE for a grant and we hope that we will be successful
the engineering design will be completed in September at a cost of $200,000.
I don’t expect anyone to be happy about the potential increases in fees or taxes but I told you it was coming. I have tried my best to explain that if we don’t get some growth with
some revenue that the cost associated with running the town would be thrust on our current residents. There were many people who said that this was some sort of ploy to try to get
annexations approved. It wasn’t a ploy it was just that I know we have issues to address that cost millions of dollars and we will not be able to continue to strain our neediest
residents.
The Thurmont Gallery Stroll took place on Friday, May 11. I didn’t get down to the event until 8:00 p.m. but there were a large crowds out on the street when I passed by earlier. The
Thurmont Historical Society hosted a vintage silent movie that was once shown in Thurmont. There were a host of people who really enjoyed it and it was a great tribute to our past.
Please pay close attention to our budget discussions. The Board will meet again on Monday, May 21, 2007 at 6:00 p.m. in the town office and again on our regularly scheduled meeting
on Tuesday, May 22 at 7:00 p.m. We needed to have more meetings so we had enough time to discuss all of the items with staff and discuss it with the Board before we are ready to
adopt the budget. We already advertised the tax rate at 28¢. We advertised high and that gives us the flexibility to look over and finalize the budget before we actually set the tax
rate. Please remember that we are legally allowed to lower the advertised tax rate but we are not allowed to raise it. As always if you want to compare our rate to our neighbors to
the North/West their tax rate is a whopping 36¢. Brunswick has a 44¢ tax rate. Please stay engaged and let us know what you think. |
