The answers to your Questions and Comments from Rick

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In keeping with my pledge to improve our lines of communication and keep the citizens of Wicomico informed,

I will now be receiving Questions and Comments  from you and posting my answers and responses here. 

 

Question or Comment

Executive’s Response
   

Question – Planning & Zoning

 

 Have you or your office examined the Planning and Zoning Commission’s Mission Statement and/or agenda toward new sub divisions and their hidden agenda to stop growth (moratorium) instead of smart growth? As a land owner, I thought I had the right to sell, develop or TDR my property as long as I meet the Wicomico County sub division regulations under the law not the comprehensive committee reports, personal statements and environmental reports. If growth and development is stopped, then our future tax base, jobs and the future of this county’s economic development will suffer. Unemployment will sky rocket! What is the answer???

Thanks for your time!

 

Although there are people in the county who would like to slam the door on any future growth, I am not one of them.  A community must grow in order to provide any kind of decent quality of life.  How we grow is the challenge before us all.  The Planning Commission has been given the difficult task of developing and implementing not just new subdivision regulations, but also a new zoning code and a variety of State environmental regulations, including Forest Conservation and wetlands resource protection.  These apply differently depending upon whether a given property is in a designated growth area or rural/agricultural area, and also depending upon individual site characteristics.  All of these are intended to operate under the “Smart Growth” principles of the State of Maryland.

 

While I certainly support the important objectives of resource protection and growth management, I have always been and will always be a champion of private property rights and a healthy economy.  We must have a balance that provides us the cleanest environment while respecting the fact that people pay taxes on their land and have a right to expect to get a fair return on that investment if they choose to sell or develop.  I will do my best to see that County regulations are applied as fairly as possible in pursuit of those guiding principles.  That will be one of the missions of my administration.

 

Thanks very much for your thoughts.

 

Rick Pollitt
   

Question – Hazardous Duty Pay

 

Rick:  What are the conditions of the hazard pay that has been partially paid to some of the correctional guards at the Detention center?  While I believe that the guards deserve this hazard pay do I deserve it any less because I am not a guard?  I also have contact with inmates and believe that I am put at risk for being spit on, urinated on or even being attacked.  As I said, the correctional officers do deserve this pay, but it is my belief that they are not the only employees of the Wicomico County Dept. of Corrections that are at risk and who also deserve some of this hazard pay.

 

The purpose of Hazardous Duty Pay is to compensate those employees of the Wicomico County Department of Corrections who are in mandated positions as written in the Code of Maryland Regulations and as defined by the Maryland Correctional Training Commission and whose primary duties include the direct supervision and control of persons committed to the custody of the Department of Corrections.  While other employees (County and Contractual), volunteers, attorneys and clergy do occasionally have direct contact with inmates, the significant difference is,that if a situation arises that requires an inmate be subdued, C/Os are required to intervene, whereas other employees are required to leave the area and/or the situation.  Additionally, by virtue of their positions, Correctional Officers are, for all intents and purposes, the enforcers of institutional rules.  If an inmate refuses a lawful order, the CO, if needed, will use all necessary means, including physical force, to gain compliance.  In doing so, they risk not only injury but exposure to blood borne and air borne pathogens. 

 

Just as the person who wrote the inquiry, County employees in other departments, are from time to time exposed to certain hazards and/or hazardous materials which, if handled improperly, could do harm.  This is why both the federal and state government’s  Occupational Health and Safety Administrations require certain levels of protection for all employees.  However, none of them, save Deputy Sheriffs, have such exposure(s) written in their job descriptions as a requirement and expectation of their positions.  I, along with the County Council, have recognized the unique and inherent danger in these positions and have agreed that it is worthy of special and additional compensation.

 

Thank you for contacting me.

 

Rick Pollitt

 
   

Question – Collector Road

 

What is the status of the Northwest Collector Road?

 

Construction on Phase 1 of the new collector road is underway…This is from Route 50 to Brick Kiln Road. This is scheduled for completion this Fall at a cost of $2 Million.

Phase 2 will go from Brick Kiln to Levin Dashiell Road and is set to be done by Fall, 2009 at a cost of $1 Million. All financing and right of ways are in place for Phases 1 &2.

 

Phase 3 will go from Levin Dashiell Road to Crooked Oak Lane and should be done by 2011. The cost will be $1.5 Million. The right of way work on this phase is not complete.

It is important to note that part of this project includes improvements to Crooked Oak Lane as well as installation of a traffic light at the junction of Nanticoke Road and Crooked Oak Lane.

 

Thanks for contacting “Ask Rick.”

 

Rick Pollitt

 
   

Question – Property taxes

 

What does Wicomico County do with property tax payments?

 

Property tax payments are deposited in the County's General Fund, and for the current year, are anticipated to fund about 37% of the County's budget.  By law, residential property taxes must be used to help fund our schools.  In the current year, anticipated revenue from property taxes falls just short of the appropriated funding for the Board of Education. The balance of the Board's funding, and funding for all other County services, comes from other sources of County revenues such as income taxes, grants, fees, charges for services, interest earned, etc.

 

County property taxes do not pay for water and sewer service as the County does not have centralized water & sewer.  Your town water and sewer fees, not property taxes,  likely pay for that infrastructure.  County property taxes also do not pay for trash/landfill services which are paid for by user fees or through the municipalities.

 

If you have any further questions, please do not hesitate to contact me...and thank you for taking the time to become more informed about your government - an involved citizen is our biggest asset. 

 

Rick Pollitt

 
   

Rick:

 

Please tell me the status of the study you promised to determine whether Salisbury city residents might receive a county tax break/rebate because of the overlap of services.

 

We moved here recently from Baltimore County, and are in minor shock at having to pay both city and county taxes.  As you know, Baltimore city residents do not pay any county taxes, since the city is a separate entity.

 

I was pleased to see you at the Neighborhood Congress last night.  I appreciated your comment about “Come Heres” and “From Heres.”  I am pleased to say that everyone in our neighborhood has been very friendly and welcoming.

 

 

Thanks for your kind words and I’m delighted, but not surprised, to hear that you’ve been well-received in your neighborhood.  We are a friendly lot, most of the time. 

In reply, I was pleased that the County Council approved my budget request for funds to pay the county’s share of a comprehensive study of Tax Differential in partnership with the Cities of Salisbury and Fruitland and the Town of Delmar. 

We are currently developing the scope of work for the project and hope to have a Request for Proposals out sometime this Fall. 

Historically, there has been a sharp divide between the county and the municipalities over whether the concept of tax differential is valid here or not. We hope the study will at least resolve that issue.  If the county’s position prevails (this is,in part, that for every dollar of county taxes paid by town residents, about two dollars worth of services are received) the matter should end there.  If the town position is vindicated (that residents are paying twice for the same service), we still need to find a way to make the system work. 

I’m sure there will be plenty of publicity about the issue as we move forward.  Thanks for the note and best wishes as new residents of our community.

 

Rick Pollitt

 
   

Hi Rick,

I have heard rumors that the council or yourself will soon be restructuring Volunteer Fire Department Territory and, if so, when will that be taking place and will you be doing this to all of the departments?

 

 

After all these years of relying on the County Fire Chiefs’ Association to determine boundary lines for fire districts; a new twist has come into being. 

According to the law, when a town annexes land, they are required to provide fire protection services along with other municipal services such as police, streets, garbage collection, etc. 

Salisbury has recently annexed land that is located in the Hebron Fire District and the Delmar Fire District.  Accordingly, the City has demanded that I direct our county emergency management office to transfer jurisdiction from those two companies to the City of Salisbury. 

I initially attempted to delay the transfer, hoping instead to develop a new methodology that would satisfy the City’s legal obligations and maintain the integrity of years of local tradition.  Unfortunately, the county attorney advised that I could be placing the county at risk by not immediately moving ahead as the law requires.  Accordingly, the changes will be made. 

I still intend to pursue an effort to get all of the affected parties around the negotiating table to see if we can come up with a better plan that first, is legal and second, allows the greatest possible role for the firefighting community in the assigning and management of the fire districts.  Thanks for your question.

 
   

Hi Rick

 

Is the county going to help the residents of Wicomico County with any funds for those that have to spend $5,000 for a new well?  I live off of Nanticoke Road and just learned that this is my fate.

 

Thanks!

 

 

 

 

 

 

Hi and thanks for the note.  We’re working with the State Department of the Environment to identify all possible funding sources to help people meet that challenge.  My well went dry three weeks ago and the bill for a new one is just about $5,000 after permit fees and the cost of the well is combined.  It’s probably too early to tell if the blame for the problem can be assigned to any particular party and  whether there will be fines generated that can be distributed to those in need.  We’re obtaining information about low interest loans and the possibility of grants for people that qualify.  Once we have something definite to report we’ll publicize the information through the web site and local media.  Good luck with your problem.  I know it’s not easy.

 

As shown by the recent county elections and newspaper articles, the positive and negative effects from development and growth in the county and its municipalities are of great concern to most Wicomico County citizens. What are you doing in the short term and over the long term to gain the advantages from development and growth while reducing their harmful effects?

 

I think the one thing that stands out since last year's campaign began is the near unanimity of concern in the community for coming to grips with development in a way that manages inevitable growth while preserving the rural character of our county.  I have been a strong supporter of agriculture preservation districts since my days as Planning and Zoning Director for Somerset County. And that was thirty years ago.  During my time there we established the first three ag preservation districts in the county. In my new Wicomico County budget, I more than doubled the amount of money requested from P & Z staff for ag preservation.

 

I also placed funding in the budget to hire a professional consultant that will help us develop a grand strategy for the long-delayed upgrade of our comprehensive plan, zoning ordinance and subdivision regulations.  It is my intention to conduct a massive public input campaign to engage all of our community in the formulation of the policies that will take us through the next 20 years.

 

In my campaign, I made a commitment to forming a blue-ribbon commission charged with investigating the feasibility of establishing a county-wide water and sewer authority.  As you know, growth is guided by water and sewer capability and I believe we can form partnerships with the municipalities that offer public water and sewer services to better plan and accommodate the growth that is coming our way.

 

Along those lines, I was an early advocate of the Council of Governments concept.  I believe that once the initial skepticism about this being another layer of bureaucracy wears off, the COG will be an invaluable tool for sharing information and resources as we confront issues such as growth from a unified position.  Likewise, my Wicomico Neighborhood Congress should go a long way toward bringing more citizens into the debate, giving rise to potentially stronger support for effective growth management policies.

 

These are just a few thoughts off the top of my head.  I welcome your ideas as well.  In my campaign I made light of the old rivalry between "from-heres" and "come-heres," saying I wanted to make us all want to be "stay-heres."  We need to make preserving the rural character of our county and the Eastern Shore our highest priority or we will lose the very thing that keeps anybody here.
   

“It would be extremely helpful if property owners could access a county website showing the status of their property…mainly taxes owed and other relevant issues.”

 

We are installing a new financial management system and we plan to have much more information on line in the next few years. In the meantime, the easiest way to check on taxes is to call the County Tax Office at 410-548-4840.

 
   
“I read your comment in the Chamber of Commerce Business Journal regarding the Revenue Cap…’…to the extent that the Revenue Cap can eventually die a dignified death, having accomplished its purpose.’ Please explain how it has accomplished its mission and, aside from wanting more money from tax payers, why is the concept of limiting government’s ability to take away our money a bad idea?”

Hi and thanks for your note.   My statement about the future demise of the revenue cap is predicated upon reaching a time when its purpose has been accomplished.  We’re not there yet.  So far, the only thing it has accomplished is limiting the resources government needs to provide the services the citizens expect.  Government does not exist to spend money.  There is neither motivation nor purpose in that.   Government exists to provide the services to the people we cannot obtain on our own….public education, public safety, roads, drainage, parks, libraries, airports, etc.  It costs a lot of money to provide these services and how well we do it directly impacts on how people perceive the quality of life in their community.  I believe most people don’t mind paying their fair share of taxes as long as the tax collectors and spenders are careful and efficient in the way that they do their jobs.  Several years ago, when the County Council imposed a drastic and unreasonably large tax increase on us, citizens revolted, and rightfully so; and imposed the revenue cap on county government.

 

My job is to oversee the provision of county services to our people.  There is a cost to that and it’s also my job to point out to people how much the services they want from us will cost.  Then it becomes a choice and we as a community decide what our priorities are.  This year, nearly $3 million in county roads work will not happen because of the lack of funds.  I cut $1 million from the $2 million requested by the Board of Education.  Other areas, including our support for seniors, volunteer fire companies, and improvements to planning and zoning have suffered significant cuts because we didn’t have the money to fully fund them.  Without the cap, we would have raised $4 million more for county services without raising the tax rate a fraction of a cent.  That’s $4 million that won’t go to roads, education, safety, seniors, and the rest.

 

Simply put, here is my position on the Revenue Cap. It was a predictable response by a fed-up community to an abuse of authority by their county leadership.  My goal is to restore trust and confidence in county government by proving to people that I do respect where the tax dollars come from and how careful we must be in how we use them.  Then, and only then, should we put the issue of the cap back on the ballot and let our citizens decide for themselves if the time has come to let it go.  Believe me, no one dislikes paying taxes more than I do.  I have plenty of other uses for my money.  But I want quality schools, a decent road system, a nearby fire company and all the other services the government is supposed to provide.  Too often we’re tempted to take the easy way and demand more and more from our government but then we say we don’t want to pay for it.  As is everything in life, it’s all about balance.  And that’s for the community to decide.  Not me.  But it is my job to lead and that I will continue to do.

 

I hope this helps and I really do appreciate your contacting me.