From the office of Harford County Councilman Jim McMahan:
NOW YOU ASK, “WHERE IS THE DARN SNOW PLOW?”
Let me bring you up to date on the efforts of your county DPW.
I got off a conference call at 2pm with all county officials. This storm is unprecedented. Breakdowns plus not ever having enough equipment in a time like this has stretched resources to the limit. I don’t think I would be insensitive to the “Who Dat Nation” if I referred to this storm as our Katrina and we are poised to get 12 more inches of the white stuff. Here is a fact: only 75% of the developments have been plowed completely but the crews keep at it. The county DPW is aggressively dealing with the problem by calling in contractors to help in the clearing effort. Supervisors are ...Continue Reading
The following letter was received from Tony Passaro of the Bel Air Tea Party Patriots:
The past evening I had the pleasure and privilege of attending the first Legislative Session of the Harford County Council for the year 2010. The shame of it was that so many Harford County residents failed to attend.
In any event, one of the bills introduced that evening should be of interest to every tax payer in Harford……
Bill No. 09-44 (Semiannual Property Tax Service Charge) eliminates the Property Tax service charge for tax payers wishing to pay their Property Tax bill in two installments.
What is interesting is that this Bill was created without the direct urging of the Taxpayers. In short, this was the Council and the County Executive’s thoughtful gift to us for the New Year. And for this I thank them profusely.
Bill No. 09-44, introduced by Council Member Captain Jim McMahan, sponsored ...Continue Reading
In 2010 the Edgewood Community Council will place a laser-like focus on two major areas- (Political and Economic Development) that play significant roles in improving our quality of life.
We will continue to address those social issues that affect our quality of life. But we can ill-afford to sit on the sidelines and complain about where we find ourselves, when WE possess the means to affect positive change.
The ECC will work with our local and state government representatives as well as such agencies as the Harford County Small and Disadvantaged Business Center to educate and engage our community about the potential that we already possess. At each of our meetings time will be set aside to discuss how to proceed in each of these areas.
The Edgewood Community has recently shown that when we work collectively (as we did in the the Prologics project), for the ...Continue Reading
The following letter was written by Harford County Councilman Joe Woods. A copy was provided to The Dagger:
It is with mixed emotions, I announce the official retirement of Search and Rescue (SAR) Canine Katie. Katie is a member of the Harford County Technical Rescue Team; the Maryland Task Force 2 (MD-TF2) Urban Search and Rescue Team; and a past member of Chesapeake Search Dogs. She has trained in many states around the country. Katie was certified by the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) and the International Police Work Dog Association (IPWADA) as an Urban Search and Rescue Canine. She received top honors at two national training events. Katie has taken an active role in many searches in and around the state of Maryland and was instrumental in locating a number of victims.
The following letter was distributed to members of Marylanders for Fair Property Taxation. A copy was provided to The Dagger by group president Roy Whiteley:
December 2, 2009
LEGISLATIVE UPDATE — STATEWIDE
Senator Barry Glassman has once again prepared draft legislation for introduction in the 2010 session to aid the property taxpayer. The task force bill, which we have tried for several years to have passed, has been revamped and is to be introduced at the beginning of the session. This bill when enacted will create a task force to review, evaluate the effectiveness of and recommend, adopt, and implement reforms to the property tax assessment procedure and assessment appeals process. The task force would be formed from one member of the Department of Assessments and Taxation, and one member from each of Maryland’s 23 jurisdictions. Individual members would have experience in the fields of agriculture, building construction, engineering, financial, manufacturing, real estate ...Continue Reading
Ready to see your taxes raised or your county services slashed again? What’s fair about that?
Background: In October, there was a great deal of controversy about canceling the school impact fee. This is the fee paid by people who purchase new homes, and it pays for a portion (roughly one-fifth) of the cost of building new schools to serve the new students arriving from the newly-built homes. That bill failed. Now Bill 09-37 proposes to cut the fee rather than eliminate it, which still hurts current Harford residents by raising our taxes and/or cutting existing services.
Here’s my view:
Bill 09-37 will slash the school impact fee by 27%. I oppose this unfair bill. It subsidizes new-home buyers by unfairly increasing taxes on current residents or by cutting services (such as recreational facilities, libraries, etc.)
With the election in the history books and dust from campaign season starting to settle, Aberdeen’s candidates have finally found the time to reflect on their victories, defeats, and futures.
After 6 years on the city council, Mike Hiob considered leaving elected office altogether, but some chance conversations (with Gov. Martin O’Malley, several prominent local elected officials, and his wife, Barb, among others) convinced him to go all-or-nothing – taking the chance of losing his council seat with a run for mayor.
Hiob was defeated by incumbent Mayor Mike Bennett by about 150 votes, but said he was not angry or upset by his loss. Even though he was disappointed with the results, Hiob is excited about the opportunities it will open up for spending more time with his family, completing long-overdue projects around the house, and strumming his guitar more frequently.
Here are Hiob’s farewell comments as read, with some additional improvisation, ...Continue Reading
A bill to repeal Harford County’s development impact fee lost a co-sponsor and was defeated in a 6 to 1 vote of the Harford County Council on November 3 (Tuesday). Councilman Chad Shrodes was a co-sponsor of the repeal effort, but asked for his name to be removed from the bill just prior to the council vote, leaving fellow sponsor Dion Guthrie as the sole supporter of the failed bill.
In a related move, a bill to reduce the amount of the impact fee was introduced by every member of the Harford County Council, except Guthrie. Guthrie told The Dagger he didn’t plan to support the bill, which he said would cut the impact fee on a single family home from just over $8,200 to $6,000, lower the fee on a townhouse to $4,200 and on all other structures to $1,200. Guthrie called the bill a “waste of paperwork”. Guthrie ...Continue Reading
With just a few days before Aberdeen voters go to the polls, the mayoral and city council candidates worked hard Wednesday night at the Candidates Night Forum to demonstrate why they would be the best choice to represent the city for the next two years.
Nine of the ten active candidates (all 3 mayoral candidates and 6 of the 7 running for city council) fielded 9 total questions generated by some of the approximately 100 people in attendance and The Dagger, which moderated the event.
Those 9 questions included:
1. Why are you running in this year’s election?
2. How would you position Aberdeen to reap the greatest benefit from BRAC?
3. What is your position on a hotel tax for Aberdeen? If you support it, how would you overcome opposition to the tax?
4. What is your opinion of the city’s current obligations under the Ripken Stadium contract?
5. What is your position on Aberdeen’s water ...Continue Reading
