ARClogo Alliance of Rockville Citizens

                    ARC NEWSLETTER May 2009
                                         No Meeting this month

    Topics: 1. Rockville-Elects closes down
                2. Budget Analysis for FY10
                3. Some candidates for November City Elections announce.
                4. Some possible areas of contention in the coming election
1. As of today the website Rockville-Elects. org has closed down. This website was set up by the Alliance of Rockville Citizens to provide information on Rockville elections and to encourage more people to become candidates for Mayor and Council. In the 2007 election we had 14 candidates for 5 offices. ARC supplied assistance to all candidates. If anything, there were too many candidates in the last election. New candidates have put in their names for this 2009 election. It seems clear that no encouragement is needed to run for office in Rockville. Too may candidates gives incumbents an advantage in an election as new candidates must divide between themselves the votes that the incumbents don’t get. In addition to closing down the website, ARC will no longer offer assistance to candidates.  Members of ARC are, as always, free to personally give assistance to any candidate(s) they choose.

2. ARC presented testimony on the FY10 budget. The full testimony is available in the pdf attachment to this letter. ARC briefly reviewed the effect of the recession on city finances. As is the case for the past 5 years, the taxable assessable base on residential properties in Rockville will rise by 10%. The tax rate of 29.2 cents per $100 evaluation will remain the same. Thus all homeowners in Rockville will see their taxes rise by 10%. In previous years the tax rate has been reduced by 1 cent so the actual tax increase was only about 7%. Nobody seriously proposed a tax rate reduction this year because the actual assessable base may decrease after the state reassessment is made on January 1, 2010. City revenues were good enough this year so that a $100 property tax rebate could be made. The city revenues will probably continue to decline this year so that the city may be faced with a real revenue loss next year. For greater detail, read the attached full budget analysis.

3. Most of the candidates that ran for the first time in 2007 indicated that they might try again in 2009. If they do, Rockville voters will have lots of choices. Two incumbents have indicated that they will run again. Susan Hoffmann will run for re-election as Mayor. Phyllis Marcuccio has signed up to run as either Mayor or re-election as councilmember. No word yet from Pietor Gajewski, Anne Robbins, or John Britton. Mark Pierzchala who ran in 2007 for Mayor has signed up to run for council this time. Carl Henn who ran for council in 2007, has again announced for council. So far, no word from any of the other 2007 candidates. There are three new names that have gotten candidate books from the City Clerk. They are Frank Anastasi, Max A. Van Balgooy, and Craig (Trapper) Martin.  Mark Pierzchala is the only one who has turned in the required signatures in time to be part of the Memorial Day Parade.

4. There are several outstanding areas of contention that have divided the Mayor and Council and may come up in the campaign.
    A) The status of the Red Gate Golf Course. The course ( as many others across the country) has lost money the last couple of years.  Unlike the swimming pool, which also is not self supporting), the Golf Course is the only city recreational facility that is expected to cover all its expenses.
    B) Argyle St. is closed to left turns onto Maryland Ave. during morning rush hours to reduce traffic. Residents of Hungerford Stoneridge are agitating to remove the restrictions on Argyle to get quicker access to 270.
    C) Some residents of West End object to the expansion of Beall’s Grant affordable housing. The Mayor and Council have allowed this small group to determine the course of city action.
    D) the gate in the fence at Princeton Pl. has been closed to satisfy local residents that objected to students congregating at the gate to avoid the smoking ban on Montgomery College campus.  Now the local residents want the gate reopened to allow easy access to the campus.

More candidates will surely decide to run before the deadline in September. More issues are sure to arise, and perhaps some will be settled by November. In any case this will be an interesting election year. ■ 

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